Rewritten
by Dying Dreams
Summary: Jade was certain that falling in love with Cat was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and although she would never admit it, it was all because Tori Vega came to Hollywood Arts. A rewrite of the series starting from the pilot. Cade (May 2014 - Undergoing Minor Edits)
1. Pilot

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Victorious.**

The moment Jade laid eyes on Tori Vega she knew that she absolutely despised the girl. From the way she flaunted around stage in her god-awful sparkly silver dress to the way she pretended to act humble as the rest of the Hollywood Arts' students (including Beck) cheered her on.

However, for some strange incomprehensible reason, the one thing that Jade despised the most was the way Cat's eyes lit up as she watched Tori Vega parade around on stage.

"Cat, Eli, Beck, and Tori," Jade finished with a malicious smirk as Vega glanced nervously over at Andre. Cat bounded up quickly, flashing Jade a quick smile before bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she waited for the rest of the cast to reach the stage. Eli was up next with a smug grin on his face as he walked around to the back of the group before Beck finally walked up with his usual, leisurely pace and relaxed smile on his face.

"Why don't you go wait in the hall?" Jade asked in false politeness as Vega finally approached her. Vega nodded hesitantly before striding out into the hallway. _Time for the fun to begin._

"She's back?" Jade thought incredulously as Vega walked into Sikowitz's classroom the next day. She was even more surprised when the rest of the class didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, they almost seemed like they were _happy _to have her back. Jade's eyes quickly shifted to the seat in front of her and locked onto Beck's face, watching as the emotions flickered from surprise, to happiness, to an emotion she knew all too well. There was a familiar spark in his eyes that Jade hadn't seen in months, one that used to appear whenever Beck was talking to her.

Jade wasn't delusional. She knew that their relationship had been deteriorating, that it had never been based on true love in the first place, that they were barely clinging together as it was, but she had never expected them to break up. The possibility had always seemed so absurd and unreal that she had never given it much thought, not until now.

Jade had never accounted for Tori Vega, never realized how quickly someone could dig their claws in and infect people with their poison; a poison that already seemed to have reached Beck's heart.

"I do." Jade kept her surprise well hidden as Vega's voice broke her out of her thoughts. She watched with interest as Vega stood up from her seat and walked up to the stage.

"She's leading a scene?" Jade thought to herself as one of her eyebrows quirked in disgust. It was only then that Jade realized that she had no idea what was going on and what they were supposed to be doing.

"…and Jade." Jade internally cursed at herself for being caught off guard again, but she merely shrugged and walked up to the stage. Beck was already there, and before Jade could stop herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Everything was the same; the feel of his lips against her own, his familiar taste, the way his fingertips gently brushed her arm. And just like it had been for the past few months, there were no fireworks, no sparks, not even a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. The only thing she felt now was the cold ashes of a dying fire.

They broke apart seconds later, and Beck didn't seem to notice anything was wrong as he flashed a smile, the same smile that used to send butterflies fluttering throughout her (not that she would ever admit it). Jade could only smirk back and pretend that nothing was wrong.

"Tori, action," Sikowitz instructed. As she had predicted, in a matter of seconds Cat was already out. Every time her turn came around, Jade fired insults at Vega, but the other girl countered her every word, and Beck kept siding with her. As the scene continued, Beck continued to defend Vega, and Jade could feel her temper running short. She continued to throw insult after insult, but Vega refused to back down and it seemed like the rest of the class was cheering _her _on.

"You eat your pants!" Jade finally snapped before quickly realizing her mistake. Sikowitz dismissed her back to her seat and Jade dropped down into it with a thud. Her eyes were flashing as she glared at the smug look on Vega's face. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Cat turn and flash a sympathetic smile, but Jade ignored her and continued to focus all her attention and hatred on the pair on stage.

"Kiss me." Jade's eyebrow shot up in surprise as the words fell from Vega's mouth. Fury was pulsing through her veins and her fingers were clenching and unclenching into fists as bloody images of Vega's dead body flooded her brain.

"…let's do it." Jade's mouth dropped open as without even a moment of hesitation, Beck leaned forward and pressed his lips to Vega's. Her eyes narrowed, and Jade waited for the stab of pain or a rush of sadness, but all she felt was an unprecedented anger, and that's the moment she finally knew for sure. Cheers and claps rang out through the classroom as whispers began to fill the air.

The bell sounded seconds later and all the other students quickly scurried out of the classroom, shooting wary looks at Jade as they left, until the only students left were Jade, Cat, Beck, Andre, Robbie, and Tori. Sikowitz seemed torn between retrieving the coconut that was resting just behind Jade, or jumping head first out the window. He quickly decided that even his precious coconut wasn't worth facing the wrath of Jade, and he leapt out the window without another word.

"Jade," Beck started as all eyes turned to her, but Jade put up a hand before he could continue.

"We're through, and nothing you do or say will make me change my mind." For a brief moment, the pitiful look in Beck's eyes almost made Jade reconsider, but then her eyes landed on Vega who was cowering behind Andre. If Beck was so willing to cheat on her with _that_, then there was no way she was going to try to continue their relationship. They were done.

"Come on, babe. It was just a stage kiss. You know that they don't mean anything. We've been together for almost 2 years. You're being ridiculous," he pleaded.

"Yeah, how many other people would go out with you? You're a freak."

"Rex!" Robbie cried frantically as he slammed his hand over the puppet's mouth. Jade simply glared at him before turning back to Beck.

"Look, you could have said no and you didn't. Besides, we both know that this has been coming for a long time. There hasn't been anything between us for a long time." Beck look genuinely surprised at her words while everybody else looked at her as if she had just said that she was in love with Tori Vega.

"Like that would ever happen." Jade shuddered in disgust at the mere thought of it.

"We're through," Jade repeated one last time before turning and marching out of the classroom as everyone else continued to stand paralyzed in shock( and fear in Tori's case.) Jade stormed down the hallway in a rage as the weight of what she had just done finally collapsed on her. She was just about to turn the corner when someone called her name.

"Jade!"

"What?" Jade hissed as she whipped around and saw Cat running down that hallway after her. Jade's eyes were narrowed and her lips were pressed into a thin, annoyed line, but as usual Cat didn't seem to notice as she wrapped her arm around Jade's waist in a hug.

"I'm sorry," Cat whispered quietly. Jade simply sighed and stood with her arms limp at her sides as she glanced over the top of Cat's hair to see the door to Sikowitz' classroom open again. Beck, Andre, Robbie, and Vega emerged, but they didn't seem to notice her as they turned in the opposite direction. Andre was patting Beck on the back and trying to cheer him up while Vega was looking at him sympathetically and profusely apologizing.

"Why does everybody like that bit-gank?" Jade quickly amended as Cat released her hold on her waist and glanced down the hallway at the four retreating figures.

"You mean Tori? Well she's really nice and friendly and-"Cat abruptly stopped talking at the dark look on Jade's face. "Are you okay, Jade? One time when I was little my brother hit me with a hammer. It really hurt, and –"

"Cat," Jade interrupted impatiently. Cat looked up at her with a pair of curious brown eyes. "I was there, remember? I punched your brother in the face afterward." Cat's eyes widened and her lips curved upward in a smile.

"Oh yeah," she giggled as Jade rolled her eyes. It was times like these when she really didn't understand why Cat, of all people, was her best friend.

"And I'm fine. I'm the one who broke up with him," Jade said. Cat seemed to take her word for it as she smiled up at her, and Jade was caught off guard at how sincere the smile was. Jade was always surprised at how open Cat was around her. Nobody was ever open around her because everybody knew that one bad move meant the end of their social life. Everybody, even Beck, either feared or respected her; everybody but Cat, who only seemed to notice the "good things" about her, though Jade had to admit to herself that she did treat Cat differently than everybody else(not that she would ever admit it to anyone else).

Jade was lost in her thoughts, as a pair of girls turned the corner and started down the hallway. As they neared, one of them grabbed her friend by the arm and pointed in Jade's direction, and they both frantically began whispering.

"Did you hear?"

"About the break up?"

"I heard it had something to do with that new girl, Tori Vega."

"I can hear what you're saying!" Jade snapped and both the girls jumped in fright and shrieked before bolting down the hallway. Before she could utter another word, Jade felt something soft and warm slip into her hand, and she looked down to see that Cat had slipped her hand into her own and was now looking up at her expectantly. Jade waited for Cat to say or do something, but Cat simply continued to stare up at her without a word.

"What?" Jade finally cried in exasperation as she tore her hand away from Cat's and planted it firmly on her hip.

"What?" Cat asked as she tilted her head to the side curiously, looking genuinely confused.

"Why'd you grab my hand and stare at me like that?" Jade whispered harshly, and she was alarmed to find that her cheeks were growing slightly warmer.

"Oh!" Cat exclaimed in comprehension as her eyes lit up. "Do you want to eat lunch together?"

"We always eat lunch together," Jade pointed out and Cat giggled again.

"Yay!" she cried happily before skipping down the hall towards the parking lot.

"That girl is insane," Jade thought to herself as she rolled her eyes and slowly headed down the hallway after Cat.

**Welcome to my very first story! I know I'm not a very good writer, but I hope that you enjoyed it and stick around.**

**1. No, I will not being doing every single episode and I will have some original stuff.**

**2. This is from Jade's POV, so obviously some of the characters are going to be viewed more negatively than others. Keep in mind that her relationships with characters change as the series progresses.**

**3. Obviously some parts are going to be very different from what actually happens, that's why it's a rewrite.**

**4. I'm actually not a huge fan of the show, so I haven't seen very many of the episodes. As a result, some of the characterization may be off, so feel free to tell me if you think I'm writing someone incorrectly.**

**5. Update (5/20/14) – Story is undergoing minor grammatical/writing revisions. Nothing major is changing with the plot. **


	2. The Bird Scene

It was ridiculous how quickly gossip spread through Hollywood Arts. By the next day, every single student had heard about Beck and Jade's breakup, and as the day wore on it didn't seem as if the gossip was going to stop anytime soon. As she walked through the halls, Jade could feel the curious eyes burning into her head. Much to her annoyance, it was the only thing people seemed to be talking about. Didn't these people have anything better to do with their lives?

"If you're going to speak that loudly, you might as well broadcast it all over the entire school! Ever heard of whispering?" Jade growled at a group of freshman who were standing in the middle of the hallway, chatting away loudly. Without waiting for a response, Jade shoved past them and headed down the hallway, not slowing down in the slightest until she finally reached Sikowitz's classroom.

Why couldn't people just mind their own business? Were their lives really so boring and pathetic that they had to intrude on other people's? Whatever the reason, Jade despised those people with a burning hatred that she normally reserved for truly despicable things, like ducks and Tori Vega.

"Hey Jade. What's up?" Jade looked up to see Andre standing in front of her with his hands stuffed in his pockets and a nervous smile on his face.

"Nothing," Jade deadpanned in response before pulling her script out of her bag. She pretended to look interested in the words in the hopes that Andre would leave, but it soon became apparent that he wasn't going anywhere as he continued to stand nervously in front of her.

"What do you want?" Jade finally said, snapping the book shut as she glared up at Andre. Andre gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"Well you see…the thing is..._Please get back together with Beck_!" Andre shouted the last part so loudly and desperately that Jade actually jumped in her chair as Andre collapsed on his knees in front of her and clasped his hands together tightly.

"Did Beck put you up to this?" Jade asked suspiciously as she surveyed Andre. It was amusing, seeing Andre act so desperate when he was generally the most calm and relaxed out of their little "group."

"No way. Beck doesn't even know that I'm talking to you," Andre assured her with a shake of his head, sending dreadlocks flying in every direction. "I just…you just really need to get back together with him. He's been feeling pretty down since yesterday and you two really were good together."

"I'll think about it," Jade lied, "if you tell me why you want us to get back together so badly." Andre shifted nervously again and Jade was certain that if he could blush, he would have been glowing bright red at that moment.

"I already told you, I think you two were really good together. I mean, Beck's the only person who could deal with you, and you were sort of… better when you were with him," Andre mumbled quietly.

"Nice try Harris, but you're going have to do better than that. For an actor, you're a horrible liar," Jade commented as she tried to figure out why Andre wanted this so badly. If Beck really had no idea that Andre was doing this, then there had to be something that Andre would get indirectly as a result. After all, nobody did things like this just because they were trying to be nice. People weren't like that. They were selfish, greedy, and only wanted what was best for them. There had to be a reason.

"You're doing this because of Vega, aren't you?" Jade's lips slipped into a smirk as the pieces slowly began to fit together. In front of her, Andre was shaking his head adamantly. "If Beck and I get back together, then he won't get together with Vega which means that she's free for you." Andre was shaking his head so vigorously it reminded Jade of an old bobblehead she had owned as a child before she had ripped its head off.

"I don't like Tori like that. Anyway, I…have to go talk to Robbie about something. Catch ya later," Andre called over his shoulder as his sprinted out of the classroom as quickly as he could. Jade's smirk slowly faded as the sound of Andre's footsteps disappeared, and the sound of his voice echoed throughout her head.

_"Beck's the only person who could deal with you, and you were sort of… better when you were with him,"_

If Jade was being totally honest with herself, she would admit that breaking up with Beck had hurt, otherwise she wouldn't have spent hours sobbing in her bedroom as she cut up pictures of the two of them. But Jade wasn't honest, least of all with herself, so she would never admit that she missed the feeling of his arm slung casually over her shoulder, and the way he would lightly press his lips to her temple. She would never admit that she missed feeling needed, that she missed feeling she was important to someone.

So instead Jade had convinced herself that she was tired of feeling safe. She wanted to feel passion, danger, and excitement, and she needed someone new who could make her feel like that. Someone like-

"Hi Jade!" Jade's eyes snapped up to see Cat standing in front of her. "Have you seen Andre anywhere? He said he was going to meet me here a little early before class started and I-" Cat shrieked in surprise as a large turquoise ball came flying in her direction, missing her by mere centimeters. Jade whirled around just in time to see the hem of a hideous blue shirt and a pair of bare feet running away. Sikowitz.

"Who was that Jade?" Cat whispered in horror as she turned to look at the ball that was now lying on the stage.

"Nobody important," Jade sighed. "Anyway, you were asking about Andre? He was here earlier asking me to get back together with Beck, but he lef-"

"You're getting back together with Beck?" Cat cried, looking even more horrified than she had just moments before. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and for a split second Jade swore that she saw disappointment flash through her eyes before it all disappeared underneath a fake smile. "That's great, Jade. I'm so happy for you two, we shoul-"

"Cat, I'm not getting back together with Beck." This time Jade was positive she saw relief wash across Cat's face as her mouth formed a small "o" and she breathed out. It was times like these when Jade wondered how Cat managed to be such a great actress when she could never seem to conceal her emotions in real life. She was probably so happy that Vega and Beck could now get together that she couldn't even contain her relief.

The bell chimed somewhere above them and Cat headed to one of the seats near the back of the room as the other students slowly began to trickle into the classroom. Beck was the first one there, and Jade watched as his eyes immediately sought her out her and landed on the empty chair next to her. He had already taken one step in her direction before he realized what he was doing, and he reluctantly dropped into the seat behind her.

Andre and Robbie were next. Andre refused to meet her eyes as he rushed to one of the seats on the opposite side of the room. Robbie looked confused at his friend's behavior, but a glare from Jade stopped him from asking. Vega was the last student in the room, wheezing and gasping as she collapsed into the seat next to Beck.

"Hello, children," Sikowitz greeted as he walked into the classroom through the back door, and headed onto the stage. He leaned down and picked up the turquoise ball, shooting Jade a skittish look, before turning to face the class."Today we'll be continuing with our scripts. Rex and Robbie, you're up first."

Jade watched with a disinterested expression as pair after pair walked up to the stage and acted out the roles they had been assigned the week before. Some were bad, some horrible, and some of the performances were so miserable that Jade wanted to run them through with a pair of scissors.

"Cat and Jade." Jade's eyes automatically met Cat's and together they shared a quick grin before heading onto stage. However, Jade's mind was not completely on her acting, and it was not because of Beck. Instead, she was too busy keeping one eye on Sikowitz as he casually tossed the turquoise ball between his hands. Jade had a feeling he was going to try something, and since he had already attacked Cat once there was no reason for Jade to believe that he wouldn't try to hit her next, and nobody caught Jade West off guard.

"…and I'll be ding dang-Ah!" Cat shrieked as the ball connected with her face and sent her sprawling to the ground. A wave of anger rushed through Jade instantly; partially because it was Cat who had been hurt, and partially because she hadn't stopped it even though she had known that the attack was coming.

"Sikowitz!" Jade snapped angrily as he pretended act confused and not like he had just purposely chucked a ball at one of his students.

"But it really hurt!" Cat said indignantly as she raised a hand to her red cheek and rubbed it gently. Sikowitz rolled his eyes and Jade could feel the anger rising steadily as she opened her mouth to reply. Before she could, the bell had rung and Cat was already back to her normal self as she gleefully yelled something about lunch before running off the stage.

"Figures," Jade mumbled under her breath as she followed Cat out the door. "The girl couldn't hold a grudge if she tried."

"That was so much fun Jade! Beck and Andre were so funny and Poncy's so cute." Suddenly, Cat stopped moving and her mouth snapped shut as she glanced back at Sikowitz's classroom.

"What?" Jade asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I forgot to ask about the homework," Cat exclaimed in a panicked voice before sprinting back towards the classroom; leaving behind her backpack and an irritated Jade. Luckily Jade didn't have to wait long as a few seconds later there was the sound of a scream, one that was becoming all too familiar, and Cat came sprinting back in her direction with a terrified look on her face.

"What hap-oomph," Jade's words were cut off as Cat launched herself at her, wrapped two arms around her waist in a death grip, and buried her face into her shoulder.

"S-Sikowitz did it again. I don't understand why he keeps doing it. Does he not like me or something? I haven't done anything wrong, have I Jade?" Jade somehow managed to understand most of Cat's muffled words, and she gently wrapped an arm around Cat's back.  
>"You didn't do anything wrong, Cat," Jade reassured her in the softest voice she could muster. Cat looked up at her with hopeful eyes and a small smile graced her lips.<p>

"Do you really think so?" Jade nodded, unable to speak properly as her throat became dry and she was suddenly aware of just how close Cat's face was to her own. Cat squealed happily and buried her face back into Jade's shoulder and at that moment the only thing that Jade could think about was how good it felt to have Cat in her arms.

As expected, Vega did a miserable job on the "bird scene," and then proceeded to ask whether or not her performance had been good. Jade was extremely tempted to yell "No!" but she had taken the oath and reluctantly kept her mouth shut as Vega was ushered off the stage by Sikowitz. Jade never understood people like Vega, constantly searching for others' approval. Who cares what other people think? Your opinions were the only thing that mattered. If you don't believe in yourself, then no one else will.

"I thought you guys were my friends!" Vega whined as they walked out of Sikowitz's classroom.

"I'm not your friend," Jade was quick to point out as she leaned against the lockers, and glanced at Vega's, only to find a bland white board with the words "Tori's Locker." God, that girl was about as creative as a movie producer and movie producers were some of the most unoriginal people Jade had ever met.

"So this is what you did with your locker?" Jade scoffed.

"Yeah," Vega said, and that was all that Jade needed to hear as she drowned out the rest of Vega's words and began to think about the millions of things she could write on her locker. There were several obvious ideas that immediately crossed her mind, and as Jade looked around for more ideas her eyes caught a flash of red and she saw Cat looking in her direction intently. The other girl blushed and immediately looked away, but Jade had caught a single emotion shining through Cat's eyes before she looked away, and there was only one person that that emotion could have been directed at.

Jade glanced at Beck who was standing right beside her, and felt an unfamiliar sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized that Cat hadn't been relieved because she wanted Beck and Vega together. She had been relieved because she liked, maybe even loved, Beck.

Jade quickly scribbled something on Vega's locker and marched off down the hallway to organize the jumbled up mess that was her thoughts, but before she got very far someone grabbed her by the shoulder. Instantly, her hand was balled in a fist and she was whirling around to_ kindly_ tell whoever it was to let go of her when her eyes met with Beck's.

"What do you want?" Jade growled.

"I just wanted to talk," Beck replied, releasing his hold on her instantly.

"We're talking now." Jade didn't bother trying to keep the venom out of her voice and she turned and continued walking down the hallway.

"I wanted to talk to you in private."

"Come on." Jade led Beck over to the janitor's closet and after checking to make sure it was empty, she headed in. Beck followed quickly and he shut the door behind him gently before turning to face her. It was silent at first as Beck tried to decide what to say and Jade kept her gaze fixated on a crack on the wall.

"It's been almost two years, Jade. We both know that you get jealous easily, and we both know that that out relationship isn't perfect, but we can fix it. I _love _you, and I know that you love me too. Are you really going to throw all of that away because of Tori?" Jade's blue eyes swiveled over to Beck as the words spilled out of his mouth, her eyes locking with his.

There was something tugging at her heart, and Jade knew that he was right. He was almost always right when it came to her. Her decision to break up with him had been based on jealously and they had fixed their problems before. Beck was one of the few people in her life who loved her at all. Her mother was gone and her father hated everything about her. He was one of the few people Jade had left, and now she was getting a chance to get him back. It seemed like they were there for hours, staring at each other in the empty janitor's closet as Jade's thoughts clashed with each other. Two sides were going at war inside her head, but to her surprise one of them seemed to be winning every time and when Jade finally opened her mouth to speak, the words that tumbled out were hard and determined.

"Yes, I am." There was no sympathy in her voice because Jade knew that situations like this had to be finished quickly. It was like ripping off a band aid. There would be that initial burst of pain, but it was better than going through the agony of having the band aid being torn off little by little. Beck's face plummeted and he gave a small, terse nod. Jade continued to stand rooted on the spot as Beck stared blankly at the floor. Finally, his face lifted once more and Jade found herself looking at a small smile and an outstretched hand.

"Friends?" Jade slipped her hand into his larger one for the last time and she nodded in response. "I guess I better go drop that salsa class then." There was a slight pause as both of them instinctively leaned in, but Jade was quick to pull back immediately when she realized what she was doing.

"I should get going." Jade watched as Beck opened the door and exited without another word, the door giving a soft "click" as it shut behind him.

"Jade!" Cat cried in relief as Jade approached the staircase that she was currently handcuffed to.

"What did you do?" Jade asked as Cat practically leaped down the steps and wrapped her free arm around Jade's waist.

"Tori wanted to know about the bird scene, so she gave me water, and these really spicy candies, and handcuffed me to the stairs. Not in that order though," Cat added quickly.

"Vega did this to you?" Jade gently pushed Cat away to look her in the eyes. Cat nodded, and Jade's hand tightened on her shoulder. "I'm going to kill that girl." She was already halfway down the hallway when Cat's called out to her again.

"Wait! Can you please unlock me first? My hand really hurts."

"Fine," Jade growled as she dug through her bag and pulled out a paper clip. In a matter of seconds she had straightened it out and was now shoving it angrily into the lock.

"Umm…Jade...Are you sure you should be doing this while you're angry?" Cat asked tentatively; covering her eyes with her spare hand and leaning her body as far back from the rail as the handcuffs would allow.

"Click"

Cat peered through her fingers in wonder as the handcuffs fell from her wrist while Jade looked up with a smug grin on her face.

"Yay! That was so cool Jade!"

"Whatever," Jade replied, ignoring the small pool of warmth that was bubbling up in the pit of her stomach. She was probably just hungry or something.

"Jade?" Jade's eyes snapped over to Cat who was nervously playing with the hem of her plaid shirt. "You're not really going to kill Tori are you?"

"Of course I'm going to kill her! If she thinks she can just come to this school and do whatever she wants then-"

"Please don't kill her Jade," Cat interjected quietly. Jade shot her a bewildered look.

"Tori's really nice and I'm sure she didn't mean to leave me handcuffed to the stairs, and I really don't want anybody to get hurt because of me, so please don't hurt Tori," Cat blurted out in one breath as she clasped her hands together tightly.

"She handcuffed you to a railing and tried to torture you will spicy candy, and you still think she's nice. What's wrong with you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat cried defensively, taking a step back as if she had been burned.

"Nothing, Cat. Why are you so nice to people all the time? Can't you see that she's just trying to use you? Besides, aren't you worried that she and Beck are going to get together?"

"Oh my god, Beck and Tori would look so good together! They should totally go out!" Cat shouted happily before her eyes widened and she looked at Jade apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry Jade. You guys just broke up, I shouldn't be happy for her." By now, Jade was far past confused.

"You want them to be together? I thought you liked Beck," Jade said bluntly as Cat's expression quickly changed to confusion. "I saw you looking at him yesterday with that look on your face."

"What look on my face?" Cat cried as her hands immediately flew up to touch her cheek.

"Yesterday when Vega was bugging us about the bird scene after class, I saw you looking at Beck with that "I'm-totally-in-love" look." Cat bit her lip and peered off into space intently as she tried to remember what had happened. As Jade waited impatiently, she was finding it difficult to ignore the way her heart was pounding furiously in her chest. Suddenly, Cat's face flushed bright red and she let out a high pitched "eep!"

"Oh that. I wasn't thinking about Beck, I was thinking about…Mr. Purple, " Cat replied with a giggle. Jade let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding as a wave of relief rushed through her. So Cat wasn't really in love with Beck.

Despite this, there were still several problems plaguing Jade. She still couldn't shake the feeling that Cat was lying to her because there was absolutely no reason for Cat of all people to get embarrassed about day dreaming about her stuffed animals.

The second problem was that Jade had no idea why she cared so much about Cat's "crush" on Beck. Her conversation with him the previous day had quelled all doubts about their break up, which only left one possibility and Jade was absolutely _positively _sure that she could not be having _those _kinds of feelings for Cat Valentine. No, it was simply not possible.

**Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts everybody!**

**As a warning, my updates will probably be fairly erratic because of school and work, but I'll try to get at least one chapter up every week. ( (Update 5/20/14) I apologize for being completely wrong when I originally wrote this. Really, I had no idea it was so hard to write.) **

**Please review and tell me what you think! Criticism is perfectly fine as well. I'm always looking to improve my writing**


	3. Stage Fighting

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious the show might have something that resembled a plot and character development.**

There was something oddly satisfying about being able to punch people without consequences. It was even more satisfying when that person was Tori Vega.

"Stop!" Vega shrieked for the hundredth time as Jade prepared to swing at her once more.

"What's wrong with you? I'm not going to actually hit you. We're being graded on this assignment. I'm not going to throw away a grade for something as worthless as you." Jade watched in amusement as Vega quietly fumed, waving her cane around madly as her mouth opened and closed without a sound.

"You know what, Jade?" Vega took a step forward and lifted her cane in what was apparently supposed to be an intimidating gesture.

"Please, enlighten me," Jade drawled as she traced random letters on her arm, stopping only when she realized that she was spelling the word "Cat" over and over again. What was going on with her?

"…just tell me why, Jade!" Jade looked up from her thoughts to see that Vega was staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to answer a question.

"What?"

"Why do you hate me so much? I haven't even done anything to you. You said yourself that you and Beck were having problems and that I wasn't the reason you broke up. We're not even going out, and Beck told me that he offered to take you back. Come on, Jade. Why can't we just be friends?" Vega was staring at her with something that was supposed to be a "pitiful" look, and Jade replied with a frosty glare back at her.

"You're arrogant, annoying, and horribly untalented. Why should I not hate you?" With that, Jade stormed out of the empty classroom they had been rehearsing in and headed straight outside to her usual lunch table where Cat was picking at her sandwich.

"Jade, you're here! How was rehearsal with Tori?" Cat asked as Jade threw her bag to the ground in a huff and dropped on the seat with a thud.

"How do you think it went?" Jade pulled out her salad and dropped it on a table with such force that the lid of the container actually came off.

"Jade…?" Jade ignored Cat's questioning gaze as she stabbed at her food angrily, watching as Vega came walking into the dining area and sat down next to Andre and Beck. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, okay?" And that was the problem. Jade didn't know exactly why she was so angry, why she hated seeing Andre and Beck sit next to Vega, why she hated Vega so much. Sure, she was obnoxious, arrogant, annoying, and untalented, but there was something deeper; something that Jade couldn't quite figure out.

"Ooh, Jade! I have to show you something!" Cat squealed and Jade was suddenly very aware of the heat that was spreading through her arm as Cat grabbed her by the hand. Cat was rummaging through her backpack now, but her other hand remained tight around Jade's.

"Got it!" Cat cried gleefully as she produced a photo from her bag, spilling several bottles in the process as she waved it around in front of Jade's face. "Look what I found in my old stuff. We were so cute!"

It was an old picture, taken in the end of summer at an old park that had been destroyed years before. The sun was dipping just below the horizon and the sky was ablaze with an array of red, orange, yellow, and blue.

The two girls in the picture could have been no more than 6, and as Jade examined the photo she felt a strange wave of nostalgia rush through her. In the photo, Cat and Jade were standing in front of a large oak tree together. Small flowers were poking up from the grass on the ground around them. Cat was wearing a flowing, floral dress and flashing the camera an adorable smile, and Jade-

Jade looked up from the photo in surprise as she saw her younger self.

Even at a young age Jade had always preferred dressing in dark colors, so she wasn't surprised to see that her younger self was dressed in dark denim pants and a loose black t-shirt. What she was surprised to see was that she was standing directly behind Cat. Her arms were loosely wrapped around the other girl's waist, her chin was resting on Cat's shoulder, and she was smiling, _genuinely_ smiling. It wasn't a "polite-fake" smile, or a sinister "I'm-imagining-your-demise" smile, it was an "I'm-smiling-because-I'm-happy" smile, and Jade couldn't even remember the last time she had smiled like that.

"Cat…" Jade found herself unable to speak properly as she simply stared at the photo. Her eyes glossed over the photo once more, and that's when she spotted them. In the background of the picture there were the blurry outlines of a man and a woman. The man was dressed in what looked to be a black suit, and the woman was wearing a red dress. Jade could feel her heart racing faster as she continued to stare at the two figures. It couldn't be…could it?

"Cat." Jade managed to keep her voice level as she spoke. "When was this picture taken?"

"A week before school started. Don't you remember, we used to go to that park all the time?" Jade's fingers tightened around her fork as her suspicious were confirmed.

"Jade?" Even Cat could see the anger rolling off of her.

"Don't you see them; the two people in the background." Cat's eyes narrowed in as Jade pointed at them.

"What about them?" Cat's brows furrowed in confusion as Jade's knuckles turned white and her eyes shut tightly.

"Those are my parents." Cat's mouth formed a small "o" as the realization struck her.

"You mean your real parents?"

"Yeah, my real parents. That was the last day I ever saw my mother," Jade said bitterly as her eyes remained screwed shut. She heard Cat let out a small gasp and she could picture the apologetic expression that was probably forming on Cat's face.

"I'm so sorry Jade. I completely forgot. Please don't be mad at me." Her voice was quavering as she spoke.

"Just leave me alone, Cat." Jade tried to keep her voice gentle, but the words were cold and hard. Her eyes opened just in time to see Cat nod meekly before jumping up from the table and dashing away. Jade was certain that she saw tears spilling over Cat's eyelids, but at that moment she couldn't bring herself to care.

As Jade continued to stare at the ground with a dull, lifeless look in her eyes she noticed the bottles that Cat had dropped earlier and leaned down to scoop them both up. To Jade's surprise one of them contained fake blood and another one contained some kind of dark purple make up. And that's when Jade thought of the perfect plan to not only get her mind off _that picture_, but also to get back at Vega.

"What did you do to Cat?" Jade slammed her locker shut to see that Beck was leaning against the wall. His arms were folded over his chest, and his lips were turned down in a disapproving frown.

"What are you talking about?" Jade ignored the scolding voice in her head that was shouting "You know what he's talking about!"

"Tori told me that Cat called her last night, and that she was crying about something to do with you, a photo, and your parents."

"Cat told Vega? How could she go and tell Vega?"

"Well, her best friend is mad at her and she doesn't have any other friends that she can go to other than Tori. Besides, Tori could barely understand what she was saying." He was right about that. Despite the fact that Cat was the happiest and friendliest person Jade had ever known, the other girl had very few friends. People just couldn't handle the childishness and sensitivity that came with her.

"Well I didn't do anything to Cat and even if I did it's none of your business." The voice was now shouting "liar!"

"It had something to do with your parents, right? What's going on?"

"Will you just let it drop? There's nothing going on."

"Jade," Beck paused as he tried to find the right words. "I'm just worried about you, alright? I know you would never intentionally try to hurt Cat."

"I'm fine, Cat will be fine," _once I apologize to her_ Jade added mentally, "and there's nothing to worry about." Beck sighed in response and Jade shoved past him to go prepare for her fight scene with Vega.

She shouldn't have been feeling like this. There was supposed to be a rush of happiness, a thrill in having finally beat Vega, but even as everyone crowded around her with concern and berated the other girl, the only thing Jade was aware of was the guilt that was clawing away inside her.

It was ridiculous because Jade _never _felt guilty for doing anything. If somebody was stupid enough to fall for something, then it was their problem. But as Jade looked around, her eyes landed on Cat's worried expression and she couldn't help but feel guilty for making Cat feel bad, especially since she still hadn't spoken a word to the other girl since her abrupt dismissal the other day. There was definitely something wrong with her. These_ emotions, _they all had to be some kind of crazy side effect to being single after 2 years.

"Someone grab a chair." The next thing Jade knew, she was hitting the floor hard, and Jade had never felt more relieved in her life. _Sweet_, sweet anger was flowing through her veins and Jade had never been happier to feel so angry because she could deal with anger. It made Jade feel empowered, confident and most importantly it came with respect.

"Are you okay, Jade?" Jade didn't need to turn around to know who was talking to her.

"I'm fine, Cat." Jade allowed herself to be helped up by Russ and Beck, keeping one hand over her eye, and hissing in fake pain as she walked. She avoided looking Cat in the eye as she passed her. It wasn't that she couldn't make herself lie to Cat, or that there was guilt flooding through veins every time she looked at Cat. No, it was simply because she couldn't let Cat get a good look at her face or she would definitely see that the blood was fake. She _was_ a makeup artist after all and it was her fake blood.

At long last Jade finally reached the chair and she sat down in it with relief. Cat was still staring at her from over Russ' shoulder and Jade was careful to avert her eyes and tilt her face away. Someone handed her a bag of ice, and Jade grabbed it and placed it on her eye. When Cat finally looked away, Jade let out a shaky breath.

"Are you alright?" Beck was staring at her intently.

"I was just hit in the face with a cane. What do you think?" Beck seemed to accept this response as he glanced down, and Jade was startled at how easily he believed her.

"I didn't!" Jade looked up to see Vega yelling at Cat and she felt the anger expand within her. It wasn't just that she was yelling at Cat, but that Vega wouldn't even consider the possibility that she had hit her. It was just human nature, the automatic reaction to blame somebody else first.

"Jade, you know I didn't hit you. I swung but I missed." Vega was suddenly in front of her babbling away about something.

"Look Tori…" Just saying her name made Jade's insides crawl, so she settled for pretending to faint instead. It required less effort and she didn't even have to pretend to be nice. Two strong arms grabbed her and helped her back up.

"We got to get her to the nurse." Somebody was saying and Jade felt someone gently push her along. Under any other circumstance she would have gladly socked someone in the face for even touching her, but she reluctantly allowed herself to be "assisted."

"And I thought we were just starting to be friends." Vega's mouth dropped and Jade couldn't suppress the smirk that was forming on her face.

"…but…I-I didn't…" And suddenly it was all worth it.

Damn it, how could she have let this happen? Jade was sitting alone in the empty hallway, staring at her pearphone, more specifically Vega's newest status update.

_Um, whoa. Andre just told me something X-TREMELY interesting. I KNEW IT!_

Vega would definitely tell one of the teachers or Lane and she'd have to suffer the consequences. The girl got everything, didn't she?

"Jade, how could you?" Jade was startled by the sound of Cat's voice, and she glanced up to see Cat standing just a few feet in front of her.

"Cat…" Not for the first time, Jade found herself unable to speak as Cat continued to stare at her with _that _look. She wasn't angry or upset, just disappointed, and Jade couldn't stand it when people looked at her like that. It was like they had some expectation of her that she hadn't fulfilled, and Jade hated that people expected things of her. Why couldn't she just live life the way she wanted to without judgment?

"It doesn't matter. Vega's going to go tell somebody and I'll get punished, and you two can go off and laugh about my defeat." Jade glared at the floor as she spoke, and she wasn't surprised when she heard the sound of footsteps. But the footsteps weren't retreating like she'd expected and the next thing she knew Cat had plopped down next to her.

"Tori's not going to tell anyone." Jade whirled around in surprise and she could see that Cat was telling the truth.

"She's not going to tell? She's going to take detention, a lower grade, and extra community service just so I don't get in trouble? Why?"

"Maybe it's because she wants to be friends with you," Cat suggested.

"Why would she want to be friends with me? I don't like her, I'm not nice to her, and I don't want to be around her." Cat shrugged.

"Well maybe she wants you to like her, and be nice to her. You know, like how you are with me." Jade stiffened as Cat's head fell onto her shoulder.

"I will never like her." Jade was finding it difficult to keep her voice angry as Cat shifted closer ever so slightly.

"You have to apologize to her." Cat's hand had slipped into her own and she intertwined their fingers.

"What? I'm not apologizing to her." Cat looked up at her with a pair of innocent brown eyes and Jade could feel Cat's hot breath against her neck as she spoke.

"Please, for me?"

Jade jolted up from her bed, her breath coming in quick, short gasps as her head played the words over and over again. She had to apologize to Cat. The guilt, it was doing something to her, and it had to stop. It had to stop soon because Jade didn't know how much longer she could deal with it all.

Jade couldn't believe what she was doing as she pushed open the door to the theater and walked in. It smelled revolting, looked revolting, and Jade didn't feel any better as she walked up behind Vega who was kneeling on the ground and scraping something off the wall. She turned around at the sound of footsteps and for a moment the two simply stared at each other.

It was Jade who spoke first.

"I don't get it."

"What?"

"I know Andre told you that I faked everything, the blood, the black eye. Why are you here? Why didn't you tell on me?" The words were out of Jade's mouth before she could stop them as her curiosity got the best of her.

"'Cause, we both go to school here and it's not going to be very fun for either of us if were fighting all the time."

Something still wasn't right about this.

"So you're just going to let me get away with it. You took detention, and a lower grade, and you're scraping crusty pudding off the wall just so I won't get in trouble."

There had to be some kind of ulterior motive.

"Pretty much." Jade was starting to get annoyed. Why couldn't this girl just fight back? She couldn't really be as nice and innocent as she was pretending to be.

"Well, you can't be nice to me when I've been mean to you all this time. That's not how it works," Jade protested,

"Well, trying being nice to me some time. Maybe that'll work. Now go play, I've gotta scrape this onion dip off the wall." Jade turned to head out the door when a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Cat's rang out.

_This is your fault, you have to help her._

With a sigh, Jade dropped her bag on the chair, picked up a bucket and a towel, and reluctantly began scraping food off the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Vega shoot her a baffled look. Less than five seconds later, Jade was already starting to get annoyed by the empty silence and the humiliation of having to help Vega.

"This might be more fun with some tunes."

A minute later, the two of them were dancing out of the theater as Derrick, the guard, remained completely oblivious to their departure.

"That was awesome," Tori was saying as they walked to the parking lot. Jade made no effort to reply.

"Tori, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be cleaning a dirty theater." Jade turned to see Andre, Beck, Robbie, and Cat approaching them.

"Jade got me out of it," Tori replied, shooting her a thankful glance.

"Really?" Beck's eyebrow arched in surprise as a tiny smirk graced his lips. Jade rolled her eyes and looked passed him and her eyes landed on Robbie. The other boy was staring at something with a dreamy, faraway look in his eyes, and when Jade followed his gaze she found that he was staring at Cat. Cat seemed to notice this as well as she was squirming uncomfortably on the spot while shooting annoyed glances at Shapiro every once and a while.

"Cat, I need to talk to you." Cat let out a relieved sigh and eagerly followed after her.

"I'm sorry for making you cry. I was just in a bad mood." Jade's voice was flat and it was impossible to keep all of the sarcasm from dripping into her words, but Cat didn't seem to notice either one of those things as her face lit up. 

"It's okay, Jade." They lapsed into an awkward silence, and Jade couldn't remember the last time she had seen Cat so quiet.

"What's going on with Shapiro?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat yelled automatically.

"Why is he staring at you like that?" Jade didn't know why she was so anxious to hear the answer.

"Oh that. I kissed Robbie to prove that Trina didn't like him because he thought that she loved him after a stage kiss they had during an audition, and now he thinks that I love him and I don't know what to do." Jade could feel her hands automatically curl into fists at her side and she was itching to punch something, more specifically Shapiro's face.

"_He kissed you?_" There was no explanation for the jealously that was welling up inside her. Shapiro was weak, pathetic, and just plain weird. There was absolutely no reason for her to be jealous, none.

"Well I kissed him first, but I don't like him like that! I keep telling him, but he just won't listen to me. He just stares at me a follows me around everywhere. What should I do, Jade?" Cat was pacing around anxiously now.

"I could kill him. He won't be feeling anything after that."

"Jade! Can you please just talk to him? Please, for me?"

"Fine." Jade didn't say another word and she marched back outside. Everything was coming back to her; Cat's touch, her breath, the smell of her fruity shampoo. Her dream was replaying itself over and over again inside her head. Jade needed to get the thoughts out of her head; she needed to away from Cat, to regain some of her sanity again.

She walked back outside where Beck, Andre, Vega, and Shapiro where still standing.

"Shapiro!" Jade's voice was commanding, and the boy seemed to sense that something was wrong even as she was approaching.

"H-Hey Jade. What's up?"

"Ooh Robbie, what did you do this time? Are you gonna beat him up Jade? This is gonna be good," Rex cackled, but Jade ignore the puppet and looked Shapiro directly in the eye as she spoke.

"Listen up. Cat doesn't like you and she never will, so stop staring at her and following her around like some sort of creep or I will find you, and you and your puppet will be sorry." Jade kept her voice cool and detached because she knew how much it scared other people. If you were angry, and your emotions were flaring it meant that you had some kind of emotional attachment. That kind of hatred came from insecurity and fear. Being emotionless on the other hand meant that you were serious and that's when people got scared.

"I-I understand. P-p-please don't kill me."

"And don't drag me into this, I didn't do nothin'! I don't even like that girl. She's completely nuts." In the blink of an eye Jade's hands had closed around the puppet, yanking it out of Robbie's arms. She tossed the doll into the middle of the parking lot and watched with satisfaction as a truck drove over it and Robbie shrieked in terror.

"Rex!"

"Say anything else about Cat, and you're going to be the one under that truck. Got it?" Shapiro nodded fearfully before rushing off to rescue his doll.

"You're being awfully protective of Cat." Jade turned to see Beck grinning at her.

"Shapiro's a creep. Even more than Sinjin sometimes. He deserves everything he gets. It doesn't have anything to do with Cat." Beck chuckled in amusement.

"I don't get it. You like Cat, but you don't like me. Are we really that different?" Vega piped up.

"Yes."

Cat was different from any person Jade had ever met. By all means, Jade should have despised her. Cat was cute, sweet, innocent, and happy, and Jade hated all of those things. There was something about her though, something that set her apart, something that Jade still hadn't quite figured out.

**I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to publish this. I've been going through some personal issues and I was flocked with homework this week. It's definitely not my best work, but I wanted to get something out there for the few people who have reviewed, favorited, and put this story on alert. It really means a lot!**


	4. The Birthweek Song

**Note: The chapter actually has very little relation to "The Birthweek Song."**

For the first time since Vega had come to Hollywood Arts, the school week had been generally uneventful for Jade. Apparently Vega had been freaking out about something to do with her sister, and a "birthweek." Jade had always known that the other Vega was crazy, but this was ridiculous even for her.

At the moment Jade was lying on the couch in her living room as heavy metal blasted from the stereo. It was one of the many perks of having a father who was constantly away. She could do whatever she wanted and nobody would give a damn. Well, nobody but the neighbors but Jade was sure that even they couldn't complain about the volume of her music with the raging storm outside.

The rain was coming down hard and the wind was howling with rage. A jagged lightning bolt flashed through the sky followed quickly by a loud crack of thunder that made the entire house tremble.

Yet somehow, despite the thunder, bashing drums, and rain pounding away at the walls of her house, Jade managed to hear the sound of her doorbell ringing.

"Who is that?" Jade thought as she glanced at her phone to see that it was getting late. She was tempted to just leave the person out there when another deafening roar of thunder sounded. Reluctantly dragging herself away from the couch, Jade shut off the music and slowly plodded to the door. Her hand tightened around the knob and the door swung open to reveal-

"Cat?" Jade's eyes widened in surprise. The other girl was completely drenched, her arms were wrapped around her body tightly as she shivered, and when she looked up Jade was alarmed to see that her eyes were completely devoid of any emotion. The next thing Jade knew, her arms were winding around Cat's quivering body as the other girl buried her face into the crook of her neck.

Cat was completely silent. There were no words, no tears, no sound, nothing. Her hands were gripping Jade's shirt tightly, like she was the only thing keeping her up. Another loud clap of thunder sounded from the sky above and Cat jumped in surprise, pressing her body even closer to Jade's. With a swing of her foot, Jade slammed the front door shut.

"Cat, what happened?" Cat only shook her head in response as her fingers tightened their grip. Jade could only rub her back in what she hoped was a comforting manner as the rain continued to pound away against the windows. The worst part was that Jade knew exactly what was going on. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The only question now was what had triggered it.

Jade maneuvered both of them to the couch as her legs began to ache from standing so long and Cat practically collapsed on top of her. She was still silent and if Jade hadn't known better she probably would have thought the girl was sleeping.

Jade felt Cat's lips brush gently across her neck as she shifted slightly and a shiver ran through her spine. Her body was still frigid from the icy water, but the spot where Cat's lips had met her neck was burning, and a tingling sensation was spreading through her neck. She knew that there was something wrong, that Cat's touch shouldn't have been making her feel like this, _but it was_.

After what seemed like hours, the tremors finally stopped, and Jade surprised to hear Cat speak up.

"Can we watch Titanic, Jade?" Her voice was soft and barely audible.

"Fine, but we're changing out of these clothes first." Cat lifted her head and shot her a confused look and Jade was immediately aware of the sudden lack of warmth.

"What? Do you really think I'm going to sit around watching a cheesy romance movie in wet clothes? We both smell awful, and I feel gross." In an instant, Cat was giggling and dashing up the stairs into Jade's room. Jade was alarmed to find that she was actually grinning fondly at Cat's actions. Grinning? She shouldn't have been grinning.

When Jade finally reached her room, she shoved open the door and watched Cat scurry around in search of clothes.

"Your pajamas are in the bottom drawer." Jade said as she walked over and grabbed her own pajamas. "Meet me downstairs when you've changed and showered."

"Okay, Jade." Her voice sounded happy once more, but Jade knew that there was still something wrong. Cat had already disappeared into the bathroom however, so Jade reluctantly slipped on her pajamas and headed back out of her room in search of the DVD. She knew that it wouldn't be on the rack of DVD's that stood next to the television, nor would it be in her own room, and that only left one other location.

Jade pushed open the door to the room and a breath of murky air greeted her. When was the last time anybody had been in here? She didn't bother turning on the lights as her eyes surveyed the room through the darkness. Memories were flooding her everywhere she looked, but Jade was quick to put up a barrier against them. She didn't need this, not now. She had Cat to worry about.

Jade's feet moved on their own accord as she briskly crossed the room, her eyes never straying from her destination once. It was sitting on the cabinet, a thin layer of dust coating the top of it. Jade's fingers grasped the plastic cover and she left the room in a flash.

Cat was already curled up on the couch when Jade returned to her living room. Her eyes were dazed and unfocused as she stared at the carpet. She didn't even seem to notice as Jade walked over to the TV and started the movie. She jumped a little as Jade seated herself on the opposite side of the couch and her eyes flickered to the TV; brightening as they saw what was playing.

Cat was relatively quiet for much of the beginning, only giving the occasional giggle. Jade barely noticed what was happening as she focused all her attention on Cat. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, not by any means, and Jade knew that it could have been almost anything that had caused it.

Cat was a sensitive person; everyone knew that. What they didn't know was what happened to all those hurt feelings once they arose. They thought everything was okay after an offhanded apology, but it wasn't. Cat didn't just forget about those feelings like everybody thought she did, she simply locked them away in a chest somewhere. But that chest that contained all the insults, bad things, and emotions couldn't stay closed forever. Eventually it all became too much and that's when she fell apart.

Jade hadn't always known about this other side of Cat, in fact if it hadn't been for that one accident, Jade never would have found out.

It was a hot summer day before the start freshman year. Jade was lying on her couch as she turned the letter over and over in her hand. She had just received the acceptance letter a few days ago and it was strange just how happy she was feeling at that moment. She was finally going to live her dream.

Her father had of course been furious with her for trying out and choosing to attend this "ridiculous excuse for school." Luckily her step mother had been in the room at the time, and she had convinced her father to let her attend. At least that woman was good for something.

Her cell phone began ringing from the table next to her, and without looking to see who was calling Jade brought the phone to her ear.

"What?"

"I-I don't know what to do. I just got into this amazing school, but my parents don't want me to go and they say I'm just being stupid for throwing my life away, but I really want to go and be an actress and sing and design costumes." There was a small pause. "And my best friend Jade is going too, and she's the only friend I have and I don't want to go to high school without her. Everyone else is so mean to me, but Jade only acts mean to me sometimes and she even apologizes sometimes. I don't want to go to a different high school, but I don't want my parents to hate me."

At that moment Jade was absolutely sure of three things. The person on the other end of the line was definitely Cat, Cat had not meant to call her, and Jade had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do. Naturally her oh-so brilliant brain came up with:

"Cat?"

"Jade?" Cat let out a terrified squeak before the phone went dead.

"Cat? Damn it," Jade hissed as she threw her phone back on the table. Cat's voice was still ringing in her ears and Jade was startled with just how _broken _the other girl sounded. She had never heard Cat sound anything but happy. And then there were her actual words.

_And my best friend Jade is going too, and she's the only friend I have and I don't want to go to high school without her. I don't want to be alone…_

Only friend? That couldn't possibly be true. Nice, outgoing, friendly Cat only had her as a friend? Jade thought back to all the years she had known Cat and all the lunches and classes they had shared together. There had to be one memory of Cat talking to someone; someone who didn't roll their eyes or tease her or tell her to go away, someone who actually cared, but there wasn't. Even Jade did all those things to Cat, but she had always figured that Cat just forgot about it once she'd "apologized."

Jade didn't want to feel bad about what she did. She tried to convince herself that Cat was weak, that she should just learn to grow up; and she almost did. But her skills were still growing and developing and she couldn't lie to herself. She couldn't make herself believe something that was so obviously not true. Even worse, she couldn't make herself believe that she didn't have to do anything about it.

Jade grabbed her phone and house keys and she marched out the door without a second thought. The walk to Cat's house was longer than ever as Jade mulled over what to say.

Cat's garage doors were opened and both the cars were gone, letting Jade know that both her parents were out. Cat had mentioned that her parents were going to visit her brother in college for the weekend. Good, she couldn't stand those people and they didn't exactly like her either.

Jade approached Cat's front door and she rang the doorbell. Unsurprisingly, no one answered.

"Cat, I know you're in there." Jade shouted, and she was met with silence. Remembering something Cat had mentioned earlier, Jade reached down underneath the welcome mat and produced a silver key. Ugh, what kind of idiots actually hid their keys there?

The door swung open as Jade inserted the key and gave the knob an angry twist. She slid the key back under the mat and shut the door behind her. The faint sound of crying was drifting through the house and Jade instantly knew where to go. She marched past the living room, up the stairs, and headed down the hallway, the crying getting progressively louder and louder as she approached the lone room at the end of the hallway.

Without the slightest hesitation Jade pushed open the door to Cat's room and she was met with a visage of bright colors from the flowers that were painted all over the walls to the bright pink furniture that was everywhere. However, Jade barely noticed any of that as her eyes locked on the crying figure in the corner of the room.

Cat didn't even appear to have noticed that she had walked in. She was curled in a small ball, her knees were brought up to her chest and her entire body was shaking as she rocked back and forth. Jade was paralyzed at the doorway as she stared at Cat's figure. What the hell had happened to Cat and who was this person that had replaced her? More importantly, what the hell was she supposed to do about this? She wasn't good with people. All she knew how to do was make them cry and suffer.

Jade already had one foot out the door when a voice that sounded like her mother's spoke in her head.

"You're all she has left Jade. You can't leave her by herself." It seemed that the miniscule part of her known as her "conscience" had decided to rear its annoying head, and although she was finding it difficult to believe, it was true. She was all Cat had at the moment.

"Cat." Jade's mouth had opened of its own accord and she instantly regretted it as Cat squeaked and looked up in surprise. Fear flickered in her eyes as they widened in recognition and she was scrambling backwards, pressing herself further into the wall like she was trying to blend into it.

"J-Jade! I'm sorry I accidentally called you. I was just practicing my acting. I-I didn't really mean what I said. I know you don't really care about me that much. Please don't hate me…" Cat whimpered as her face disappeared between her hands again.

Jade couldn't help but frown at Cat's words. That's why Cat thought she was there? To yell at her? Ugh, she knew this was a bad idea. She should have never come, but it was too late to back out now.

"I don't hate you Cat. Do you really think I'd waste my time talking to you if I hated you?" Cat's fingers parts and Jade saw her brown eyes peeking through.

"You really don't hate me?" Jade nodded stiffly and Cat relaxed slightly.

"Oh." Jade took a step forward.

"Cat, are your parents really not going to let you go to Hollywood Arts?" Jade immediately realized that that was the wrong thing to say as Cat began shaking again.

"My daddy says I have problems and my mommy says that going to Hollywood Arts would make me even more screwed up." And Jade was frozen once again as the familiarity of the words struck her. It sounded exactly like her father. The only difference was that Jade didn't want his love and affection, not anymore. Cat wanted her parents to love her. It was just the way she was; she wanted everybody to like her.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Are you parents really going to be that stupid and not let you go?" Because despite the fact that Cat was annoying, childish, and not the brightest crayon in the box (to put it lightly), she was talented and she deserved to be in that school. It wasn't because Jade actually wanted to go to school with Cat. No, it was definitely not that.

"I told them that, but they won't listen to me, Jade. I'm such a bad daughter. I want to be good and make my parents happy, but I really want to go Jade. I really want to…" Cat burst into tears again, but Jade swore that she had mumbled "be with you."

Jade took a few more steps forward until she was standing directly in front of Cat as tears cascaded down her face. What was she supposed to do now? Give her a reassuring pat on the back? What would her mother have done? The answer to that question came quickly and Jade reluctantly sat down next to Cat. Now what? Her arm shot out quickly as she remembered what she was supposed to do, but she misjudged the distance between her body and the wall and as her hand crashed into the wall, pain exploded in her knuckles. So this is what she got for trying to be nice?

Cat didn't even notice as she snuggled into Jade and sank her face into her shoulder. Jade grimaced at the touch, but she made no move to push Cat away. Now came the hard part. She was actually supposed to say something to make Cat feel better.

Just wonderful.

"I'm sure your parents will let you go and they won't hate you." _Liar_

"Really?"

"Yeah." Even as Jade was speaking, she waited for the intense feelings of discomfort to hit her, but they never did. Instead, all she felt was intense anger and something else that she couldn't quite place. She must have been imagining things.

"My parents took me to see a therapist. The same one they took to my brother to see. He was really nice and he gave me candy and talked to me about stuff. It was so much fun."

And that's what Jade spent the rest of her day doing. Sitting on the floor in Cat's room as she blabbered on about stories about her parents and her brother and school and unicorns and superheroes and everything she wanted to talk about until the tears finally stopped flowing and her real smile was back.

Jade's shirt was wet, she was going deaf, her mind had stopped functioning because of how ridiculous some of the stuff Cat had talked about was, and her arms were going numb from all the times Cat had grabbed her as she was telling a story. But at the end of the day, when she finally collapsed in bed the only thing Jade could think about was how accomplished she felt.

She never did figure out how Cat had convinced her parents to let her attend Hollywood Arts, or who'd she really meant to call that day. All that really mattered was that something had changed that day. Jade had seen a part of Cat that she had never known before and one that she could actually relate too. It still caught Jade off guard sometimes and she still had trouble remembering how sensitive Cat really was, but she had to be strong and let Cat fall on her when everything else was slipping away.

Of course, things had changed. Cat had other friends now, she was a lot happier now at Hollywood Arts, there was no longer a key hidden under the welcome mat, and her parents were apparently starting to rethink their original outlook on Cat's lifestyle.

And then there were the things that never changed. Cat was still as childish as ever, Jade was still Cat's best friend (she had absolutely no idea why), she was still the place Cat went to for comfort and support, and Jade still had no idea had to stop the pain. She could only stand there and wait for the tears to take away all of Cat's pain.

Jade heard Cat whimper quietly and she turned to look at the screen. The camera was slowly panning off the boat and into the waters and Jade realized what was about to happen. Cat had seen the movie a million times, and she always got upset when watching this part.

"Cat, you know she's not going to die," Jade said. Cat covered her ears and looked down, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"Tell me when it's over." Jade focused her attention back to the screen and watched with disgust as Rose attempted to jump off. Ugh, she'd seen the scene way too many times to feel even remotely sad for the girl. She had _everything _and she was still complaining about her life. Unable to stand the scene any longer, Jade grabbed the remote and quickly fast forwarded to the part when Rose was safely back on the ship.

"Cat, it's over." Cat didn't response and Jade gently nudged the other girl. "Hey, Cat! The scene is over." Cat tentatively lifted her face from her hands and glanced at the TV; her lips curving into a small smile as she continued to watch.

The movie dragged on, and Jade felt herself starting to doze off. Why were these movies always so corny and boring? Cat was watching the movie intently as if it was the first time she'd ever seen it. Finally, as the ship was sinking and the passengers were screaming and Jade was just starting to enjoy the movie, Cat spoke up.

"My parents are gone again." Jade frowned. Cat's parents had an unfortunate habit of "forgetting" to tell Cat when they were going to be away. They needed to get away from her every once and a while, and Jade could understand that. She knew that Cat was difficult to deal with at times and that everyone needed some time away, but what she didn't understand was how they could just leave their own daughter _alone _without any kind of notice and without even a key for her to get back home.

"Did you walk all the way over here?" Jade asked, remembering her soaking figure standing in the rain.

"No, Robbie's parents drove me over. They stopped a block away because Robbie said something about not wanting to die," Cat replied.

"Shapiro? What were you doing with Shapiro?"

"I was with him at his grandma's house to help with her computer." Cat trailed as off the tears silently began streaming down her face once more.

"What did Shapiro do?" Jade growled as her arm reached out for her keys. She had warned that boy, and Jade wouldn't hesitate to drag him out of his house at 2 in the morning and run him and his grandmother over with her car.

"Robbie didn't do anything. His grandmother yelled at me and told me that I have problems and that I shouldn't date Robbie because he's too good for me."

For some reason that last bit about "dating Robbie" made Jade want to punch something, _hard._ Cat couldn't possibly like Shapiro. The guy was an ass and he would destroy Cat. Jade didn't have time to pick up the pieces. There was no way Cat could like him.

"I thought old people were supposed to be nice and friendly and give you cookies."

"There's nothing wrong with you Cat. You're-" Jade fumbled for something nice to say, but nothing nice was coming through the cloud of anger that had descended on her mind. "Everyone else is just messed up."

The movie had ended by now and both of them were clearly getting tired. Cat was yawning and Jade could feel her own eyelids growing heavy. Remembering how uncomfortable it had been the last time she had fallen asleep on the couch, Jade stood up and headed to her room.

"Come on, Cat." Jade climbed up the stair slowly and Cat bounded up ahead of her. Even when she was depressed and tired the girl was a bundle of energy. It was ridiculous.

The clock on the side of the bed was flashing "2:46" as Jade finally sunk beneath the warm covers. She felt the mattress shift as Cat slipped in beside her. Cat wasn't babbling herself to sleep like normal. She was lying on her side with her back facing Jade, and Jade could only imagine what was going on in her head.

Jade's eyes were shut and her mind was shutting down, but just before she finally fell asleep she felt the mattress shift again and a second later Cat's body was pressed against her own. Jade's eyes were still closed, but her senses were on full alert as Cat wrapped an arm around her waist and rested her head on her shoulder.

Jade waited patiently for something else to happen, but Cat appeared to be still once more and her breathing was coming in slow and even breaths. Jade was sure that Cat had fallen asleep which is why she nearly jumped when Cat's voice pierced through the dark and into her mind; her words burying themselves deeply into her memory.

"I love you, Jade."

**I sincerely apologize for how long it took me to post this. Not only was I suffering from intense writer's block, but I've also had so many tests, quizzes, and homework that my brain is completely fried.**

**I know the whole thing with Cat's "secret backstory" has been done a billion times, but I want to stress that I do think that Cat really is happy and that I don't think her parents are physically abusive in any way.**

**Update May 2014 - I honestly have no idea what I was planning to do with the plot with Cat and Jade's "backstory." I was probably way in over my head, so be warned that I don't really follow through with this idea in later chapters. **


	5. Tori the Zombie

**Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Victorious**

"But that's so many."

Jade felt herself yawning as she watched the production of Uptown, Downtown. Watching paint dry was more interesting than Vega's amateurish, unemotional performance as the lead.

Jade had of course been originally cast as the lead, but after her break up with Beck both of them had decided that it was way too early for them to be kissing and acting like they were in love after their relationship was still hanging precariously by a thread. Of course, not two seconds later Vega, (surprise, surprise) had been recast as the lead and Jade had been shifted to the part of some extra. Whatever, it wasn't like she had particularly enjoyed the part anyway. Playing the role of the girl torn between two boys was always cliché and boring to say the least.

Jade absently flicked through her phone as Vega and Beck did some scene, and she noticed that she had received an email from Principal Ikner. Before she could click on it though, disco music began blasting through the speakers. Jade was up from her seat and whirling around in a matter of seconds because there was only one location that infuriating music could be coming from.

"What up with the disco?" she hollered. If there was one person on this planet who was an even bigger loser than Shapiro (who had been avoiding her all day) it was Sinjin. Not only was he a complete nerd, he was also the biggest creep Jade had ever seen.

"I pressed the wrong thing," he cried as he continued to fumble with the controls.

"No, fifteen years ago your mother gave birth to the wrong thing!" Jade had to suppress the smirk that was tugging at her lips as she shot Sinjin a furious glare before turning back to her phone. Her eyes skimmed through the email quickly and her interest was immediately piqued.

No way.

"Guys, guys, everybody shut up a little. I just got an email from Principal Ikner," Jade called. Everybody immediately turned to her curiously.

"That says?" Jade rolled her eyes at Vega's impatience and she read aloud the email that was announcing Sophia Michelle's presence at their play. The rest of the students were buzzing with excitement when Vega just had to ruin it with her woeful ignorance.

"Who's Sophia Michelle?" She's was joking, right? The baffled look on Vega's face said otherwise and Jade groaned.

"Oh no, no, no…" Why was that girl even at this school? Did she know anything about show biz? Vega continued to look at her with a confused expression on her face. "She gets to be the lead and she doesn't even know who Sophia Michelle is."

Vega started babbling about something to do with a hairbrush, and Jade looked back down at her phone. Her knuckles were turning white as she gripped it tightly. She had given up a role because she didn't want to "mess up her relationship with Beck." That was ridiculous. They were both actors. They had to kiss other people they didn't want to all the time. Since when did Jade care about stupid things like damaging her relationships? Now the role was being given to Vega of all people and Sophia Michelle was going to see her miserable performance.

"Oh, Sophia Michelle wrote the play we're performing." Vega said as Beck instructed her to look at her script.

"Oh," Jade mocked. The doors to the black box theater burst open seconds later and their teacher walked back in. His forehead was shining with a thin layer of sweat (gross) and he was clutching a water bottle in his hands tightly.

"Alright you guys, we knew we had to be great before, but now we have to be perfect. We are not going to disappoint Sophia Michelle." And you want Vega as your lead?

"Are you sure you want Robbie in this play?" Rex quipped.

"Hey, I'm good."

"At what?" The doors to the theater were swinging open once more as their teacher escaped to get more "pills." All the teachers here were crazy, but Jade supposed that was one of the things that set Hollywood Arts apart from ordinary schools. She couldn't imagine sitting in a classroom as some teacher droned on and on about some trivial topic that would never help them in real life. Ordinary schools were such a waste of time.

The rest of the school week was crammed with rehearsals. Jade spent most of her time sitting in the back of the theater as Vega, Shapiro, and Beck ran their scenes over and over again. It was boring to say the least. The play was about as cliché as they came.

Two boys are both attracted to one girl. One of them is rich and pompous while the other is poor and a good person. Girl has problems choosing between both of them and just as she's attracted to the rich boy, he shows his "true colors." She goes back to the poor boy and they live happily ever after. Jade had seen it done a million times only thing that was different was the backdrop.

"Good work everybody! I think we're ready for our performance tomorrow. Remember to show up a couple of hours early so we can rehearse one last time." Their teacher still looked nervous as he spoke, his fingers nervously twisting the cap of a bottle of pills. There was a scattered applause and the rest of the students began to disperse.

Jade was about to leave when she noticed something in the corner of her eye. She had been accustomed to seeing the three of them together by now, but part of their conversation caught her attention.

"You were great, Tori," Andre was saying as he patted Vega on the back.

"Yeah, you were really great." Beck concurred from her other side.

"Thanks guys. I'm so excited to finally be in a play!" Vega chirped happily, pretending not to notice the little glares Andre and Beck were shooting each other behind her back. She probably loved all the attention that she was getting from the two of them. It was slightly amusing to see Beck and Andre wage their silent war. The two of them so rarely disagreed about anything and they had never fought over a girl before, though to be fair she and Beck had been dating for most of the two years that they had known each other, so they never really had a chance to fight over a girl.

Jade had only seen Andre date a few times, and for the most part he only seemed to have short flings with pretty girls that lasted for a few weeks at most. He had never shown too much interest in one particular girl, though his interest in Vega seemed like it could be serious for once.

Beck on the other hand never seemed to have any problem attracting girls, and the occasional boy, much to Jade's annoyance. Whether it was his looks, charismatic personality, or his hair in particular, girls always seemed to be fawning over him. Underneath all the jealously though, Jade had always felt proud that she had something that no one else had. Of course none of it mattered now.

The sound of the theater doors slamming shut broke Jade out of her thoughts and she glanced around to see that almost everybody, including Beck, Andre, and Vega, had already left for lunch. Jade grabbed her bag and headed out to the courtyard on her own. That was another thing that Jade had gotten accustomed to, being alone all the time.

"Jade! I have something I want to show you!" Well, she was alone some of the time anyway. Jade turned at the sound of Cat's voice, expecting to see some kind of toy being shoved in her face. Instead, she was met with a phone which was displaying the picture of a boy with…clown makeup on?

"Isn't it scary?" Cat asked, giggling as she moved the phone away and looked at the picture herself.

"Cat, I've seen babies that are scarier than that."

"But I had to make him look scary for my makeup class. Now I'm going to fail," Cat wailed.

"Just ask someone else to model for you." Cat's face lit up, and Jade knew what she was going to say before her mouth could even open. "No, I'm not letting you put make up on me."

"Please, Jadey," Cat pouted, dragging out her name for extra emphasis. Jade groaned at Cat's use of her "nickname." Cat always called her "Jadey" whenever she really wanted something, and for some reason it always made Jade reconsider. So what if she thought that Cat looked kind of (only a little!) adorable when she pouted?

"No." Cat's face dropped again, and Jade actually felt just a tad guilty watching her. Ugh, only Cat could actually make her feel bad for something as trivial as this. Before Jade could do anything about it, Cat's face lit up once again as her eyes landed on something. Jade turned to see that Cat was staring eagerly at some random boy who was leaning on the lockers.

"Cat, what are you-" Cat had already scampered off and was standing in front of the boy in a flash.

"Hi there," she said, making sure to giggle and smile. The boy grinned, and Jade's eyes narrowed as his eyes roamed Cat's body. What the hell did he think he was doing?

"Hey."

"I really need help with my makeup project. I need to make someone look scary, but nobody wants to model for me. Do you think you could help me?" Cat was biting her lip now as she stared up at him with a pair of pitiful eyes.

"Sure, no prob. It sounds like fun." He finally raised his eyes to meet hers, and he flashed what he probably thought was a "charming" smile.

"Yay, thank you so much! Just meet me in the makeup room tomorrow before lunch." Cat bounded off down the hallway, leaving that boy to stare after her with a grin on his face.

"Hey!" Jade called, bringing his attention to her. In two quick strides she was standing in front of him, and he shifted uncomfortably under her glare. "You try anything with her and you're dead. Got it?" The discomfort quickly turned to fear as he nodded quickly before taking off down the hallway muttering something about "crazy goth chicks."

However, Jade's thoughts had already turned back to Cat. Thinking back on the past week Jade was startled realized that most of her memories seemed to include Cat. Whether it was walking down the hallways together, or sitting at lunch together, or sitting next to each other in class during periods with free seating, Cat always seemed to be _there. _And of course, thinking about Cat brought Jade back to the subject that had been bothering Jade all week, those three little words.

_"I love you, Jade."_

Those three tiny significant words had been plaguing Jade's mind all week. They really shouldn't have meant anything at all. Cat was always gushing about how she loved this or that. She used the word "love" for almost anything.

Jade knew she was probably over thinking the entire thing. They had been alone together in the dark, she was tired and delusional and Cat had been raw and emotional. The entire situation had been undeniably intimate, and she had probably been imagining things that weren't really there. Yeah, that was it. Besides, there was absolutely no way that Cat could actually_ like _her like _that._

For starters they had completely different personalities. There was no way Cat could possibly like someone who was mean to her all the time, especially in public. Granted, Jade was nicer to her than most people were, but she still wasn't exactly nice.

Then there was the fact that Cat was completely boy-crazy and flirted with guys all the time. Hell, she had just flirted with some random guy less than a minute ago. If she really was in love, then there was no reason for her to be flirting with boys all the time.

Jade had also been watching out for the telltale signs that Cat liked her, constant staring, batting eyelashes, constant touching, and she was relieved to find that none of those things were apparent. All of that meant that there was absolutely no way that Cat like her like that.

But the more she thought about it, the more Jade realized that there was definitely something different about the way Cat had said those words. It reminded Jade of the way Beck had spoken to her; his words full of passion and unspoken promises and at the same time Jade was reminded of the few memories she had of her mother's soothing, comforting voice that was full of love and affection.

Jade was getting frustrated. Cat was supposed to be easy to read. Every little word, every little action normally screamed a specific emotion, but this time…this time it had been more like a whisper; a whisper that Jade was straining to hear. Jade didn't know why, and she didn't particularly care at the moment, but she needed to know what it was saying. The whisper was gone by the time she had spoken to Cat at school on Monday, but it was still lingering in her mind, repeating over and over again.

_I love you_

The next day of school marked one day before the big play and the entire school seemed to be buzzing with excitement. The first half of the school day passed in a blur and before she knew it, Jade was making her way to an empty table in the courtyard where she was quickly joined by Beck, Andre, and Vega. And of course, everything went downhill whenever that girl was involved.

"What's she doing here?" Jade snapped.

"I told you this was a bad idea." The other girl hissed as she picked up her bag and began to walk away.

"Stay," Beck commanded as he grabbed her by the wrist and gently tugged her back.

"What are you doing?" Jade growled.

"Yeah, what are you doing?" Vega asked with a confused look on her face. Andre glanced uneasily between Beck and Jade as if he could already sense something unpleasant.

"This can't be good."

"Jade, Tori is going to sit with us because she's our friend, and you two will just have to learn to get along." Beck was talking to her like she was the disgruntled older sibling who had just been introduced to her new baby sister.

"I'm not your girlfriend anymore. You can't just tell me to do something and expect me to do it. She's not sitting with us."

"Beck, it's fine. I can sit somewhere else." Tori tugged futilely at her arm, but Beck's grip had locked around her wrist.

"Stay."

"Leave."

"She's staying."

"She's leaving." Jade ignored the eyes that were starting to turn in their direction. Andre's eyes had been volleying back and forth; drumming his fingers against the table at a faster and faster tempo as their voices steadily grew louder.

"Can't you just let me eat my lunch?" Vega interrupted. "I'm starving and-"

"Hi everybody!" As usual Cat seemed oblivious to all the tension around her as she plopped down at the table.

"Hey Cat," Andre greeted, his eyes temporarily stopping in their tracks.

"Guess what I'm doing tonight." Cat continued excitedly and Jade watched as Vega groaned.

"What?" Jade prompted. Anything that made Vega that annoyed had to be worth hearing.

"I'm going to Tori's house to make her look ugly!" There was a long pause.

"She needs to make me look scary for her makeup class, so she doesn't fail," Vega explained as she sat down and buried her face in her hands. Jade's eyebrows rose. Cat had failed again?

"Wait, I thought I was going to rehearse some songs with you for the play tonight." Jade didn't fail to notice the glint of jealously that flashed in Beck's eyes.

"Oh, we still are. Cat's going to come over, do her makeup thing for a bit, and then we can finish rehearsing."

"Alright." Andre and Vega fell into a steady conversation about music, leaving Jade, Cat and Beck in silence, until Beck finally spoke up.

"Hey Cat, aren't you going to eat something?" Jade glanced sideways at Cat and noticed that she was staring straight at her, her lower lip secured between her teeth.

"Well I was going to buy lunch, but Tori agreed to help me with my project, so I used my money to buy her lunch." Vega looked over at the sound of her name and Jade was quick to pin her down with a fiery glare.

"What did I do this time?"

"You made her buy lunch for you?"

"Oh no," Andre moaned. "Not again."

"Well she's turning me into a monster when I really should be practicing for the play. Sophia Michelle's coming to watch it remember?" Jade was out of her seat.

"You didn't even know who Sophia Michelle was two days ago. You barely even know your lines. Besides, what does that have to do with Cat?" Vega was up out of her seat and several people turned curiously in their direction.

"That's not true, I've been practicing a lot, and I want to do well, so Sophia Michelle is impressed by our school. I could have said no to Cat so I could rehearse more, but I didn't. It's called being nice. Maybe you should try it sometime."

"You just want everyone to be impressed by you. You wouldn't even have the lead if I hadn't dropped out and given it to you. Cat's just too nice to say no to you. You're taking advantage of her."

"Oh, because you're such a good person, and you're just so nice to her all the time," Tori snapped sarcastically. "You're way meaner to her and everybody else. You wouldn't have dropped out of the play if you hadn't been so jealous and dumped Beck." Beck winced at this and Jade could feel the anger pouring off her in waves. A sea of hushed whispers had started among the other students; someone was actually standing up to Jade West.

"Well I wouldn't have dumped Beck if you-" Jade was cut off at the feeling of an all too familiar hand tugging at her wrist. "What?"

"Jade," Jade was surprised to see Cat pause before she spoke. To say that it was unusual to see Cat think before she spoke was a gross understatement. "It's alright. I'm okay not eating lunch. Tori's is being really nice by helping me with my makeup assignment. Everybody else quit on me."

"Now you're taking her side too? What's wrong with you? I'm trying to defend you," Jade tried to ignore the way Cat shrank back at her biting voice. She felt betrayed that Cat would be sticking up for Vega over her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat cried, and suddenly Jade could hear her own voice resonating over and over again in her mind.

_There's nothing wrong with you._

"You know what, forget it. You all can have fun fawning over her." Jade grabbed her bag and walked out of the courtyard without looking back.

There was absolutely no way Cat actually liked her. Hell, it barely seemed like Cat even considered her to be her best friend anymore since Vega's arrival. Sure, there had been that one night, but that had been the most interaction they had had in weeks. Jade couldn't believe that she'd actually thought that Cat could actually have those kinds of feelings towards her. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Much to Jade's relief, she hadn't been the center of attention the next day at school. No, there was something much bigger that happened over night, something positively fantastic. Vega had been turned into a zombie, and it was all thanks to Cat. Even better, it was only two minutes until show time.

Naturally, everybody else was nervous and on edge, but Jade watched the entire scene with satisfaction. That girl would finally be getting what she deserved. There was no way Sophia Michelle would ever like her now, and Vega would never be cast in another play.

Throughout the play, Jade made sure to concealing her growing pleasure as the minutes ticked by and Cat and Trina were still nowhere to be seen. The confused look never left Sophia's Michelle face every time Vega, the Zombie, appeared on stage.

It wasn't until the very last number that Jade finally spotted that familiar splash of bright red hair. Apparently Beck had as well as he directed Vega towards the back of the stage where Cat was waving a large bottle. And somehow, through the mayhem, shrieking, and chaos they finally managed to tear off the makeup. Jade watched in disappointment as Vega reappeared on the stage to be greeted with a roaring applause. The song finished with a bang, and for minutes the only sound in the room was the never-ending applause and cheers.

The curtains shut and suddenly everybody was hugging and cheering and patting each other on the back. Jade made her way back stage, shoving past all of the other students in her rush to get changed out of her disgusting, sparkly shirt. When she finally emerged from the dressing room, she nearly collided with someone else.

"Hey, watch where you're going." Jade brushed the invisible dirt off of her clothes as she turned to yell at the person some more, but the words died on her tongue as she realized just who it was.

"You were really great." Cat stared at the ground as she rocked nervously back and forth on the balls of her feet. Her two hands were locked together behind her back.

"I was there for the last twenty seconds."

"And you were really good," Cat repeated, the desperation shining through her voice. Jade was starting to get irritated at the way Cat continued to stare at the floor.

"You can look at me. I'm not mad at you anymore. I shouldn't have…I didn't mean to yell at you. Look, I even got you candy." Jade dug into her purse and pulled out the small bag of candy that she had stolen from one of the preschoolers from the school next door. Those brats didn't need it anyway.

Cat's face spilt into a grin as she accepted the candy, and Jade reluctantly opened her arms for the body that she was sure was going to be barreling at her any second, but she was surprised when it didn't come. Instead Cat took a step forward, placed a hand on her forearm, and before Jade knew what was happening, Cat had pressed a kiss to her cheek.

It wasn't the first time Cat had kissed her there. The very first time had been in a drive by acting scene they had done, and Jade had nearly slapped the other girl on instinct, until she realized that Sikowitz had instructed Cat to do so. All the subsequent times had been when they were alone together when Jade had done (or at least tried) to do something nice. Usually, it only resulted in something disastrous, but Cat was always so happy that she just had to show it somehow, and apparently hugging just wasn't quite enough for her.

But Jade knew that there was something extremely different about this one. Maybe it was the way her own arms were itching to grab Cat and pull her closer or the way Cat's lips seemed to be lingering longer than usual or the fact that it seemed like this was more than just an over affectionate "thank you." And then there were the feelings, those horrible things that Jade had been unable to control for the past couple of weeks.

Usually, Jade just felt annoyed whenever Cat did something like this. That girl knew absolutely nothing about personal space. This time…this time even Jade couldn't force herself not to notice the pleasant shivers that were crawling down her spine, and the tingly (_tingly!) _feeling that was spreading through her face quickly. More importantly, there was no escaping the fact that it felt _good._

Jade's eyes fluttered open (she wasn't quite sure when they'd closed) as Cat moved away, leaving her body feeling cold. Cat looked up at her, her cheeks stained the same color as her hair, but Jade found that her eyes were being drawn to Cat's lips. They were a deep rose color, and they looked so soft, so innocent, and yet so provocative all at once. It was like they were exerting some kind of magnetic force and Jade could feel herself leaning in even though her mind was screaming at her to stop.

"Cat! Jade!" Jade froze, her eyes growing wide as she realized what she was doing. What the hell? There was no way…she had just tried to…she was about to…

"You guys will not believe what just happened. Sophia Michelle thought the entire thing was our plan, and she really enjoyed the play- Jade? Are you alright? You're looking a little pale?" Andre had burst into the hallway chattering away excitedly, although some of the excitement in his eyes had faded into concern.

"I'm always pale," Jade snapped, keep her eyes away from Cat's face. "Anyway, I don't have time to listen to your story. I've got to get home."

"Wait, I thought we were going to hang out after the play?"

"I lied. I'm going home." She needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Jade stormed into her house, the sound of the door banging shut echoed throughout the empty house. Her bag was dumped haphazardly on the ground as she ripped open the door to her bathroom. Jade grabbed the sink basin with both hands to hold her up as harsh breaths fell from her lips, the same lips that had just been inches away from Cat's.

There was no point in trying to deny it any longer. She knew exactly what was happening, and it needed to stop. Jade wasn't going to let herself fall for anybody again; she wasn't going to let anybody else back in.

People only seemed to see the good side of love, the beauty, the euphoria. But when you love someone, really truly love someone, you're giving them a passage to your heart. All that armor that you've spent years building up to protect your emotions is suddenly gone and you become vulnerable to them. You're giving them the power to mess things up, to mess you up, and you wouldn't even notice. Not until every little word and action can turn into a knife cutting deep into your heart, not until they can destroy you effortlessly.

That's why trust was so important in relationships. You had to trust the other person not to use that power against you. For some people it took days to build up that kind of trust, for some people it took years, for Jade it never happened, not even with Beck. There had always been that little doubt that he would leave. She could never fully trust anybody because everybody would leave eventually. It was just how people were. Jade wasn't going to give anybody else that kind of power over her.

Jade's breathing had evened out slightly by now and she looked up at her reflection in the mirror. Andre had been right, her skin looked ghostly pale under the dim light. There was a hard, slightly crazed look in her eyes and there was a faint pink mark on her cheek. Cat's lipstick

Jade gave the handle of the sink a furious pull and within seconds the water was everywhere. The counter, the floor, her hair, and more importantly her face were completely drenched as she furiously scrubbed at her face. She needed to get all remnants of Cat off her body.

After a few more seconds, the mark was gone, but Jade kept scrubbing. Maybe if she kept scrubbing, she could get rid of the feeling to.

Unfortunately, her plan didn't seem to be working.

She could still feel those lips on her cheek. She could still feel Cat's warm, sweet breath ghosting over her face.

_"Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat…"_ The name was repeating itself over and over again in her head as she tried to make sense of it all.

Why on earth was it Cat of all people? For years she had never thought of Cat as anything more than just a friend, a close one albeit that, but suddenly Jade had no idea what to think. Why had it changed? When had it changed?

Cat was nothing like anything of the people Jade had ever dated before. For starters, she was a girl and that should have been enough to negate any kind of _romantic _feelings, but apparently that wasn't a problem. Jade had always been 100% sure that she was completely and unequivocally straight, but she was also absolutely sure that straight girls didn't normally try to kiss their female best friends.

Then there was the fact that Cat was just so innocent and sweet. For any other person just one of those two things would have been enough to stop any feelings other than annoyance and hatred.

Cat wasn't just any other person though. She didn't have any armor; her innocence and sweetness were _genuine. _She really was like a child in that sense. She trusted too easily and too quickly. It was part of the reason she was so happy all the time. She didn't have that distrust to filter out some of the happiness, but at the same time it also meant she believed everything bad that was directed at her as well. It was a double edged sword, and Cat was still learning to wield it. It should have been another reason on the list of reasons why Jade _didn't like her_, but instead it just made Jade feel protective. She wanted to be the shield to protect Cat from all those bad things.

Jade still wasn't sure whether or not Cat had more than friendly feelings for her, but she wasn't waiting to find out. She had to stop her own feelings from developing any further, and there was only one way to do that. She had to distance herself from Cat.

**Once again, I'd like to give a huge thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter, and to all the people who've put the story on alert or Favorited it. You guys rock!**


	6. Robarazzi

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Victorious.**

It had been three days since Jade had last seen or heard from Cat. Cat's parents had decided to take her to San Francisco to visit her uncles. For once, Jade was incredibly grateful for something Cat's parents had done because it was considerably easier to avoid someone when they were hundreds of miles away from you. Moreover, her more than friendly feelings seemed to be dissipating with every second.

Jade was starting to think that her original conclusion had been horribly, horribly wrong. Maybe she had just been imagining those feelings. If you really liked someone the emotions weren't just supposed to disappear after a few days apart. She had probably just been caught up in the moment. She had been doing that an awful lot with Cat lately.

There was only one problem though.

When she was awake everything seemed perfectly clear. She hadn't really _wanted _to kiss Cat, she was completely and indisputably straight, and most importantly she did not like Cat.

But every time her head hit the pillow and she shut her eyes, she was brought back to that moment. She could feel Cat's breath on her face, the warmth spreading through her arm, the pleasant sensations lingering on her face. She could feel Cat's lips falling on her cheek and when she looked down at Cat her eyes automatically shifted to her lips, and Jade could feel that magnetic pull. Every time the pull got stronger and stronger and her lips got closer and closer, but at the last moment her eyes would shoot open and she would be sitting straight up in her bed; panting madly as some ungodly hour was being displayed on her bedside clock.

The worst part was that sometimes she could feel more than just a pull. Something inside her was pushing her forward, pushing her lips closer every time. It was like something inside her wanted to close the distance.

Jade wasn't stupid. She knew what was happening. During the day, she had control over her life. She could control her thoughts, her actions, and her emotions. She could put on a mask. At night that mask came off and everything that happened during her dreams was beyond her control.

But dreams weren't real. You could sleep all you wanted to, but eventually you'd have to wake up and face reality because reality was the only thing that mattered. Reality was the way things actually were.

Recently though, Jade was having trouble separating her dreams from reality.

The entire table shook as something heavy landed on it. Jade's eyes scrunched together in confusion as she looked up and spotted a bizarre machine resting on the middle of the table. Then her eyes shifted up a little further and she was met with a familiar curtain of ruby hair. Cat was back. For a moment, Jade thought she felt something fluttering in her stomach. She must have been hungrier than she thought.

Jade waited patiently for the stream of useless words that were sure to come pouring from Cat's mouth any second, but nothing came and Cat simply stared at them all expectantly. When no one said a word Cat finally spoke up.

"Don't you guys want to know what that is?"

"Is it a transporter from the future that can beam you to another table? Because if it is what button do I push?" Jade had been waiting for this moment, the moment where she could finally prove that she didn't really like Cat, the final test.

And she failed spectacularly.

Her voice was irritated and mean, but she couldn't make herself sounded hateful. She was an actress for god's sake. She should have been able to make herself feel hate, or at the very least sound hateful, but she couldn't make herself sound truly hateful to Cat.

Emotions: 1 Jade: 0

"That's so hurtful!" Cat cried, but she didn't sound incredibly hurt. Surprised was more like it. Even so, Jade could feel a small twinge of guilt.

Emotions: 2 Jade: 0

"You know, you don't always have to be mean to everyone." Vega said as Cat sat down at the table with a dejected expression on her face. Hooray, another life lesson from the great and powerful, Tori Vega. That girl really thought she was some kind of saint or something.

"See? Tori's interested in my device." Cat's voice sounded forceful, like she was trying to prove something.

"I'm really not." Hmm, it seemed like even Vega wasn't in the mood for Cat's childishness today.

"Aww, come on Little Red. Tell us about your doohickey." Looks like it was Andre to the rescue.

"Okay, it's called the SnowBee," Cat announced excitedly. "Watch." She leaned over and pressed one of the buttons of the side of the machine, and suddenly tiny white flakes were shooting up everywhere. Was it supposed to be snow?

Whatever it was, it was starting to get everywhere, so Jade stood up and shut the machine off.

"It's pretend snow!" Cat cried happily. Jade was quick to wipe off the little smile that was forming on her face. It was _not_ cute when Cat acted like a child. It was strange, annoying, immature, and childish, and Jade was not supposed to be smiling.

Emotions: 3 Jade: 0

"It's all over my tostada," Beck said from beside her as he blew on his lunch.

"And my pizza," Vega grumbled.

"Well, do not eat it," Cat said, her voice sounding strangely serious. That could not be good.

"Why?" Jade asked suspiciously, her eyes raking over what was still left of her salad.

"'Cause it says the fake snow is toxic and can cause abominable bleeding," Cat read as she looked over the pamphlet that had presumably come with the machine. Hmm, it was poisonous and could cause abominable bleeding. Jade could already think of quite a few good uses for that.

"So what made you want to buy a machine that poisons people's lunches?" Tori asked and for once Jade was actually thinking the same thing. Cat grabbed something that was sitting on the table and lifted it for them all to see.

"This catalogue." It was blue and had the word "radio" on it in large capital letters.

"Sky Store?" Beck asked and Jade could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Yeah, I went to visit my uncle and uncle in San Francisco and they had these on the plane. It's filled with all kinds of cool stuff you can buy." Jade was only half listening as Cat began to talk about something else she had just discovered in the catalogue. She could only seem to hear the butterflies flapping away in her stomach. Weren't butterflies supposed to be quiet?

"Unbelievable! You guys have no idea how upset I am about- it snowed? In Los Angeles?" Jade had never been more grateful to hear Robbie's annoying voice as he looked around at the table in confusion. Before long he was arguing with his puppet again, and then Jade remembered why she had hated him in the first place. She could feel Cat's eyes burning into her from the other side of the table, and she distracted herself by scooping some of the snow into a spoon.

"It's not real snow," Beck explained.

"But you can eat it," Jade offered Robbie the spoonful of snow, but he shook his head and sat down at the table.

"I don't want to eat anything." Robbie sounded dejected.

"What are you all upset about?" Andre asked. As usual he was the only one of them who seemed genuinely concerned.

"This time," Beck added, not bothering to try to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"The seniors, the ones who run the Slap,"

"Dot com?" Cat asked curiously.

"No, dot gov. Yes, dot com!" Robbie snapped. Cat looked down and Jade' fingers tightened around the spoon in her hand. She could just lean forward, stuff the snow in his mouth, and it would all be over….

"They want to cancel my blog!" He had a blog?

"Why? Oh wait, I don't care," Jade replied.

"Why?" Vega asked with a roll of her eyes. Now Jade wanted to stuff the snow down her throat. She couldn't even act like she actually cared.

"Because it's boring. Ha!" Rex jeered, starting another argument between him and Robbie. Sometimes Jade wondered if Robbie's was self-esteem was really that low, or if he was just acting pathetic so everybody would sympathize with him.

"Do you guys think my blog is boring?"

"Hey look, it's that guy over there!" Beck exclaimed as his eyes focused in on something in the distance. Cat and Andre both took his cue and turned around.

"It is that guy!" Cat replied.

"Wait up, guy!" Andre called, hand reaching for his bag as he spoke. They were gone in seconds, and Jade could only roll her eyes. Why were they always trying to spare other people's emotions? Well, she wasn't about to sit at a table alone with Vega and Robbie.

"There is no guy," she was sure to add as she passed Robbie, watching with satisfaction as his face fell.

Jade was only a few feet away from the table when she heard her name being called. She turned around, expecting to see Cat, Beck, and Andre but instead she only spotted Beck walking towards her. There was a concerned look on his face.

"We need to talk."

"Is this about us again? I'm not breaking up with you again._"_ Beck shook his head.

"It's about Cat." And it was back, the nervous feeling in her stomach that is. Jade had decided that there was no way it could just be butterflies. Butterflies were soft, quiet, and delicate. This fierce pounding was something bigger, something more powerful. It was more like a dragon; powerful wings beating, breathing fire into her stomach every time someone mentioned Cat.

Emotions: 4 Jade: 0

"What about her?" Jade's voice was flat, rehearsed, and unrepentant.

"Why were you being so mean to her?" Beck had folded his arms over his chest as his eyes watched her carefully.

"I'm mean to everyone." There was no way Beck could argue against that.

"Not to Cat you're not. You're never that mean to her." Jade turned away from him. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on."

"Come on, Jade. I know the two of you are close. I know that you really care about her." Jade scoffed at this. Of course he knew that they were close, that they were friends, that they occasionally hung out with each other, but he had no idea just how close they were. Nobody had any idea, and Jade wanted to keep it that way.

"That doesn't mean anything. I can be mean to her if I want to be." Beck looked surprised that she hadn't immediately tried to deny it.

"We both know that you don't like being mean to her on purpose. Did she do something to… hurt you?" Jade almost burst out laughing on the spot.

"Cat? Hurt me? Don't be stupid, that girl couldn't hurt a fly." Just the thought of Cat trying to hurt something was ridiculous.

"Then what's going on?"

"Just forget about, okay?" Without waiting for a response, Jade headed back into the school. Why couldn't people just leave her alone?

It was two days later when the video came out. Apparently Robbie had caught footage of Vega popping a zit and posted it on his blog. Needless to say, it was a hit and Jade absolutely loved it. Finally, the rest of the school would be able to see how horrible that girl truly was.

"Beck!" Jade stopped walking at the sound of Cat's voice somewhere around the corner, and she immediately turned around and headed in the opposite direction. So far, she had managed to keep her promise. She hadn't spoken a word to Cat ever since she'd insulted her at lunch, and Cat hadn't tried to talk to her. It wasn't surprising since Cat was so preoccupied with the Sky Store that she barely even paid attention to anything else.

It should have made her ecstatic. For the first time in a long time everything was going just as she had planned, but there was still this nagging little voice in her head, and every time Jade tried to shut it out it got just a little bit louder.

_Is this really what you want? Is it? Is it? Is it_

"Just shut up!" The lone boy who had been walking near her jumped back in surprise.

"I wasn't saying anything."

"Well you should shut up anyway," Jade snapped as she turned the corner. She was starting to go as crazy as Sikowitz.

Emotions: 5 Jade: 0

Another two days had passed and Jade found herself heading towards the black box theater, a cup of coffee clutched in her right hand. Beck had texted her a few minutes ago.

_Meet us in the black box_

It didn't take a whole lot of thinking to figure out who "us" was. Jade opened the door to the theater and she instantly spotted Beck, Cat, Andre, and Vega near the stage. Cat was staring at her magazine, Vega was sitting in one of the chairs, Beck was to her right, and Andre was hovering behind her. Jade almost turned around and left the room at the sight of Cat, but the other girl was so enraptured by her magazine that Jade figured she probably wouldn't even notice her arrival.

"What?" Jade stopped to take a sip of her coffee as Beck, Andre, and Vega turned at the sound of her voice.

"Robbie posted something new on his blog," Vega said, sounding nervous and irritated.

"And?"

"All of us were tagged in it." Beck explained.

"We just thought we'd all watch it together, you know, to see what Robbie has to say this time," Andre added.

"This time?" Jade asked in an innocent voice.

"You saw the video of Tori popping her pimple, didn't you?" Andre asked, looking genuinely confused.

"What video?" Jade couldn't help but grin at the enraged look on Vega's face.

"Don't answer. She knows."

"Why don't we just watch the new video?" Beck suggested, turning their attention back to the monitor. Vega hesitantly pressed the play button as Jade took another sip.

"Welcome to Robarazzi, starring Robbie Shapiro." Jade nearly spit out what she was drinking as she stared at the screen. What the hell? Robbie was standing in front of a mob of student's with cameras as the word "Robarazzi" spun in around behind him.

"Robarazzi! Your home for up to the minute tasty gossip about the student's at Hollywood Arts. Robarazzi! Starring Robbie Shapiro."

"Oh my god."

"Coming up on Robarazzi, Tori Vega's pimple. Shrinking or growing?" The camera switched to a picture of Tori, and Jade couldn't help but grin. Maybe Shapiro wasn't useless after all.

"Also, is Jade West on drugs?" Jade felt her eyes go wide as the camera panned to a video of her and she instantly recognized what was going on. She was walking down a silent hallway, staring darkly at the floor and suddenly she shouted, "Just shut up already!" Andre, Beck, and Vega instantly turned and looked at her in confusion.

"I'm not on drugs!" Jade growled.

"Are Andre and Beck both in love with Tori Vega? All that and more on Robarazzi!" Vega shut the video off and turned around to look at Andre and Beck.

"Eh?"

"Robbie's a dead man!" Beck announced as he got up from his chair.

"Yeah, he can't just go around making up stuff like that." Andre agreed, but Jade could see the way he was nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"Let's go fix this, right now," Tori said and for once Jade couldn't agree with her more. Jade was the first one out of the theater, and she headed towards the TV studio. When she got her hands on that skinny little neck…

"So why were you randomly shouting at a hallway?" Beck asked, and Jade was annoyed to find that he looked slightly amused.

"Why does Shapiro think the two of you are in love with her?" The smiled on his face faded.

"Yeah, why does he think the two of you are in love with me?" Vega piped up.

"Because he's crazy, that's why," Andre said, giving a firm nod to emphasize his point. And that was the end of their conversation as Vega shoved open the door to the TV studio.

"Hey!"

"Beck and I are not in love with Tori!"

"I am not on drugs!" Shapiro didn't even seem fazed as he turned to one of the cameramen standing near him.

"Uh, are you getting this because this is really great stuff?" Jade had already taken a step forward, her fingers curled into a fist ready to swing, but Beck grabbed her by the arm and shook his head. Jade shrugged his hand off angrily.

"Robbie! You're not going to have any friends left if you keep exploiting us for your dumb blog," Tori said and Jade was surprised at the sheer anger that was in the other girl's voice. Maybe she wasn't such a good person after all.

"Okay," Shapiro turned to the whiteboard behind him and for a second Jade thought he was going to reconsider until he scribbled Tori's name on it. "We have Tori freaking out!"

Jade's eyebrows raised in disbelief. Was he serious? Her eyes scanned further up the board, and that's when she spotted it. Written at the top of the board was Cat's name. He was making up stuff about Cat too?

The anger inside her exploded. Jade had always known that Shapiro was a horrible person. Most of the time he just tried to hide behind his puppet, but Jade knew that what Rex said was what Shapiro was really thinking. Everybody else could act like they were two different people, but Jade knew what it really was.

Jade knew that she was mean, but even she didn't go around making up crap about other people, especially not people that were supposed to be her friends. It was low, despicable, and pathetic.

"Is he serious?" Tori exclaimed. She surged forward and suddenly everybody in the room seemed to be shouting. Jade didn't even care about what was coming out of her mouth. All she knew was that it was angry and it was mean.

"Stop!" Tori's shrill voice cracked slightly as she shouted, and Jade turned around to look at her as the rest of the room fell silent.

"This is your last chance," Tori paused as she looked Robbie directly in the eyes. "Are you going to stop this Robarazzi thing or not?"

The answer was, unsurprisingly, no.

A few days later things still weren't any better and Jade's temper was running short. It all had to be Vega's fault. She had mentioned something about convincing Shapiro to start a blog about their personal lives. Even Vega didn't argue back when Jade had brought up the point during lunch.

"Hey Jade, what's really in that cup you're drinking from?" someone called and Jade whipped around just in time to see someone disappearing through the doors of the school.

"Why don't you come over here and I'll show your face what's in this cup!" Jade heard Cat giggle and her heart thudded in her chest until she realized that Cat was giggling at her new machine that was resting on the table.

Emotions: 6 Jade: 0

"Is that from the Sky Store?" Beck asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"Uh huh," Cat replied.

"What is it?"Andre asked, leaning forward curiously.

"It's the world's most powerful juicer, for juicing on the go!"

"You're so screwed up," Jade said, trying to ignore the way her stomach twisted at her words. Maybe if she said it enough, she could make herself believe it. Cat didn't appear to be incredibly offended though as she demonstrated the machine's capabilities by juicing Beck's pizza.

Jade was staring to get sick of it all. The machines, the blog, and that damned catalogue. Jade wanted to grab it and shred it to pieces. Cat had an unhealthy obsession with that store and Jade wasn't about to sit by any longer. She had to do something about it because nobody else seemed like they were concerned in the slightest, but there was no way _she_ was going to tell Cat to stop. She had told herself that she was going to stay away, and she wasn't going to back out now.

Emotions: 6 Jade: 1

"You want me to do what?" Jade tapped her foot impatiently. She couldn't believe she was in the counselor's office talking to the school's almost utterly useless counselor, Lane. Sure he was pretty cool and tried to counsel them, but most of the time he failed to do anything.

"I want you to tell Cat to stop buying things from the Sky Store," Jade repeated.

"Look Jade, I'm not supposed to get involved with students like this. If Cat wants to buy stuff from the Sky Store then it's her choice. If you really want her to stop then why don't you just ask her to? You're her friend, I'm sure she'll listen to you."

"You're the counselor. It's your job to make sure students don't do stuff like get addicted to buying useless machines. Besides, I can't tell her." Lane cocked an eyebrow at this.

"And why exactly can't you tell her?"

"Just because!" Jade threw her arms up in the air in frustration. Why was everybody so nosy? Why couldn't they just accept something without asking questions?

"Jade, is there something you wanted to talk to me about? Are you and Cat having an argument of some sort?" Jade nearly punched him in the face.

"Why does everybody think Cat and I are having some sort of argument? We're not."

"Then why can't you tell her to stop?" Lane repeated. Why did he always have to use that voice? It sounded like he was trying to talk to a child, not a teenager.

"Because… because she won't listen to me." Lane chuckled at this.

"Jade, we both know that's not true. I've seen you two together. Cat always listens to what you tell her to do." Jade opened her mouth to argue back, but she couldn't think of a single counter example. Had Cat always been that obedient around her?

"Now Jade," Here we go again. "I'm going to ask you one last time and I really hope you're honest with me this time. Are you and Cat having any problems?"

"No." And it was the truth. _They _weren't having any problems. Cat was as bubbly and oblivious as ever, maybe even more so. Jade was the only one who was losing control. She was the only one who didn't know what to think anymore, what to feel anymore. All she knew was that she couldn't like Cat. She just couldn't.

Emotions: 100 Jade: -100

"Jade? Is everything alright?" Lane's concerned voice pierced through her thoughts.

"Yeah, everything's perfect." There was a dubious look on his face, but the defeated sigh that escaped his lips let Jade know that she had won this round.

"Alright then. If you really want me to, I'll try to talk to get Cat to stop buying so many things from Sky Store."

Jade turned and walked out the door of the office, and just as she stepped out into the hallway, Lane spoke out one last time.

"Jade, if you ever feel like you need someone to talk to, feel free to stop by any time." The door slammed shut behind her.

Jade decided she needed something to get her mind of Cat, and what better way than to get revenge on Shapiro for his blog? He was still running it, but Jade was sure that was all about to stop today.

She and Tori were waiting by the main staircase. Vega was holding a small video camera and Jade had "borrowed" a camera from one of the freshman that worked for Shapiro. Vega was marching around impatiently like some sort of idiot and it was starting to get on Jade's nerves.

"Patience," she snapped.

"They finished gym ten minutes ago!" Vega wailed.

"It takes time to get from the locker room here."

_Incoming message from Beck._

"Oh! Turn it on, turn it on," Jade instructed as she grabbed the camera around her neck and held it at the ready. Beck and Andre appeared in the lens seconds later.

"We got 'em," Beck said breathlessly as he showed them Shapiro's clothes.

"He's right behind us," Andre said coming up from behind him.

"Not funny! You guys better give me back my clothes or I swear I'll-" Shapiro turned the corner wearing only a towel around his waist and Jade didn't bother trying to hide the smile that was on her face as he squeaked.

"Ah! Turn off the camera." Jade simply smirked as she continued to snap picture after picture. Getting revenge was always fun, but it still would have been much more entertaining to burn Rex like she had originally suggested.

Shapiro agreed to cancel his blog rather quickly which unfortunately meant that the short distraction his revenge had provided was gone.

This whole "distancing" thing was not working. The more she was alone, the more Jade had time to think and her thoughts always seemed to be turning back to Cat. She and Cat had been friends for a long time. There was no denying that Cat was the closest female friend she had, and although she would _never_ admit it to anyone else, she did consider Cat to be her best friend. Maybe that's why she was finding it so difficult to simply cut off all her ties with Cat. Because as much as it killed her and as much as she didn't want it to be true, she really did care about Cat. She cared more about Cat than anybody else, and ever since she had broken up with Beck, Jade was starting to become more aware of this fact every day.

Maybe the best thing to do was to act like everything was normal, where Cat was nothing more than a friend, where something didn't pound wildly in her chest every time someone mentioned Cat's name, where she didn't have all these damn emotions, because maybe, if she pretended for long enough, her act could become reality.

_Is this really what you want?_

**Yes, Jade is just a little crazy, but aren't we all?**


	7. Survival of the Hottest

Jade had been in a miserable mood for days, and for once the source of her frustration wasn't a person.

It was the goddamn weather.

The temperatures had been in the 100s for days now, and the heat was making everybody miserable.

Jade dragged herself slowly down the hallway towards the courtyard. She couldn't believe that her idiotic "friends" had decided to eat outside today. They were all morons.

"It's so hot outside today!" Jade halted in her tracks as Cat jumped in front of her, and she was temporarily blinded by the sheer amount of red. In addition to her red hair, Cat was wearing a rather short, (not that Jade was paying _any_ attention) red, floral dress.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" As soon as the words were out of Jade's mouth, she realized that it was an incredibly stupid question considering the fact that Cat was almost always in a good mood, but Jade was in no mood to be thinking straight.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Cat." She also wasn't in the mood to deal with Cat's mood swings. "Just forget it, okay?"

"Kay, kay!" Cat replied cheerfully before skipping off towards their lunch table. Jade made sure to keep her eyes up and away from Cat's legs. Far, far away.

Beck, Robbie, and Vega were already seated at the table by the time they arrived.

"Hi everyone! I'm really hot, but I'm still in a good mood," Cat announced as she sat down.

Jade nearly choked on her own spit when a small part of her brain wholeheartedly agreed with the first part of Cat's statement. There was something seriously wrong with her. Only perverted creeps like Robbie and Sinjin thought of stuff like that.

At the presence of a hand on her arm, Jade looked up again only to find that Vega's face was inches from her own and that she was touching her. Gross, what the hell was she doing?

"What?"

"You're not sweating," Vega said in a baffled voice.

"Uh huh." So that's what this was about.

"How can you not be sweating?"

"I don't sweat."

"Everybody's sweats!"

"Not Jade," Beck said. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade saw Cat nodding too and there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"What do you mean she never sweats?"

"Sweating is gross, so I don't do it," Jade explained nonchalantly.

"So what, you're just…" Tori fumbled for the right word, "cold blooded?"

"Jade? Cold blooded? What a surprise," Rex jeered sarcastically. Jade heard Beck chuckle next to her and she saw Vega trying to hide a grin behind her hand. Cat on the other hand didn't look amused.

Ignoring the small jolt of pleasure that she felt from Cat's reaction, Jade grabbed the bottle of sun block from her bag and squirted a healthy amount onto Rex's plastic face. Out of her peripheral vision Jade saw Cat grin at her, and another small wave of pleasure jolted through her veins.

Jade drowned out most of the rest of the conversation as Andre arrived at the table in a considerably good mood as well. He and Cat had always been the two optimists of the group.

"It's up to 106 in the valley," Robbie announced from his Pearpad and Jade let out an audible groan.

"Hey, check Venice Beach," Beck instructed. Robbie quickly did as he was told.

"Venice is..."his head shot up quickly as he spotted the number, "only 91 degrees."

"Let's go to Venice," Tori said and Jade found herself agreeing with the other girl once more. Well that certainly had to stop.

"You guys wanna?"

"What, blow off school?" Jade asked. She was no stranger to the art of skipping class and neither were Beck and Andre. Cat and Robbie on the other hand… Robbie was just too much of a coward to do it, and Cat was just too innocent to even consider cutting class. And then there was Vega who had probably never blown off school in her life because she thought it would ruin her perfect image.

"I meant Saturday. We could borrow my uncle's pickup, hook it up to my RV, and we could all hit the beach," Beck explained. It wasn't quite as fun as ditching class would have been, but at that point Jade was ready to go just about anywhere that was cooler. That was until she heard Trina's annoying voice from behind.

"The beach? I am so in!"

"No, no, no…" Everybody at the table piped up immediately, but apparently all their pleas were lost on Trina as she hurried back into the school excitedly.

"No one likes you." Jade tried one last time, but Trina was already long gone.

Just great.

By 11 o'clock on Saturday morning the entire group had arrived at Beck's house. As usual, the RV he lived in was parked in the driveway and Beck was busy hooking it up to his uncle's truck.

Jade was leaning against the wall of his RV, her eyes shut as she tried drown out the rest of the voices around her. Jade was by no means a morning person and anybody who tried to wake her up before twelve on a weekday had better have a damn good reason.

"Jade…"

"What?" Jade was vaguely aware that someone was poking her gently in the stomach.

"Beck's done with the RV. It's time to go." Jade cracked one eye open to see Cat standing in front of her.

"Ugh," Was her coherent response as she slowly made her way to the door of the RV. Cat giggled and raced inside ahead of her.

"She's sitting with you in the truck?" Jade asked when she noticed that Vega was the only one that was not getting in the RV.

"Yeah. Is there a problem with that?" Beck asked.

"No." And Jade was somewhat relieved to find that she was being completely truthful. She really didn't care.

Jade was the last one in the RV, her eyes taking in the familiar room before she seated herself in one of the couches next to Cat. Andre was sitting on the floor, and Robbie and Trina were on either sides of the other couch.

For a moment the entire room was quite until the RV lurched forward and shook as Beck started the car and pulled out of the driveway. Jade shut her eyes and leaned back against the couch to catch some sleep before they arrived at the beach. She threw an arm over her eyes and the rest of the world faded away as she drifted off.

Sometime later, Jade was semi-aware that the couch had shifted slightly and a warm body was pressed against her side. She shifted a bit at the presence and she was vaguely aware of the face that was nuzzling against her neck. Jade let her own head fall comfortably on the one that was now resting against her and she reveled in the lovely scent that was overtaking her senses as she drifted off once more. The last thing she saw before she blacked out completely was a flash.

Jade's eyes blinked open. She was feeling ridiculously refreshed and better than she had in a long time. As her vision came into focus the first thing she noticed was Andre's amused grin.

"What?" she hissed as the rest of her sense slowly came back to her. Andre didn't respond, choosing instead to focus his gaze on something that was directly to her left. That was the moment when Jade realized that there was someone latched to her arm.

Jade's initial reaction was to push Cat away to wipe the smug grin off Andre's face, but when she looked down at Cat's face she couldn't bring herself to do anything. In fact, she was having trouble resisting the urge to reach out and brush the stray strand of hair away from Cat's face… Not that she liked Cat…or felt any differently about her…or thought she was cu- ah, screw it.

Cat was absolutely adorable.

"Cat, wake up," Jade said, shoving the girl lightly in the arm. Cat let out a sleepy moan and buried her face in Jade's shoulder.

"Cat," Jade repeated, shaking her body. The grin on Andre's face was growing wider by the second.

"Mmmm…Are we there yet?" Cat stirred, her eyes blinking open slowly. There was a faraway look in her eyes and Jade could actually feel her right hand twitching at her side. Calm down, West.

"Three more minutes and we'll be there," Andre said, the smile never leaving his face once as he continued to watch them.

"Kay," Cat said, pushing herself up and releasing Jade's arm. "I really have to go pee."

"What?" Trina sputtered from the other couch. Jade had forgotten that she was there.

"I really really have to go pee!" Cat cried, jumping up from the couch and jumping up and down. Jade averted her eyes from Cat's figure because she could feel her eyes being inadvertently drawn to Cat's toned calves and thighs which were a mere feet away from her eyes.

Friend…friend…friend…

The entire room suddenly shuddered to a halt and moments later the door swung open and Cat dashed out of the RV. Jade let out a breath as Beck and Vega climbed in, Vega shutting the door behind her. Jade was barely paying attention as Trina went on about how amazing Beck's RV was and Andre helped recount the story of how Beck had purchased it from a retired rapper. The more she tried not to think about Cat, the more her thoughts seemed to be drawn to the girl.

"Alright, it's starting to get hot in here," Andre said and Jade remembered why they had come to the beach in the first place.

"Let's go!" Vega said and Jade got up to follow them out as Beck pushed open the door. Or at least he tried to.

"What's wrong?" Beck tried again and the door didn't budge. It seemed to be colliding with something on the other side.

"I don't know. The door won't open." Beck tried a few more times, but the door wouldn't budge.

"Just open it!" The intense heat of the air outside seemed to have all collected inside the RV and Jade was starting to feel suffocated. She needed to get out.

"Something's blocking the door." Tori opened the curtains to one of the windows and Jade felt her stomach drop. For once, it wasn't because of Cat.

"Oh man. Some idiot parked a huge RV right next to us."

"Whatever, let's just go out the back door," Trina suggested.

"There is no back door."

"I'm getting very hot now," Andre said, his voice sounding extremely agitated.

"Will someone open a window?" Robbie asked.

"The windows are bullet proof. They won't open!" Jade snapped. Tori and Beck started to argue about the door and suddenly the entire RV had erupted in shouting voices.

"Alright, alright. Let's not bug out!" Andre interrupted.

"No one knows we're trapped in this toaster oven," Tori snapped.

"Cat just went to the bathroom. She'll be back in a few minutes and then she can start Beck's truck and then pull us forward."

The realization that Cat was absent from the situation hit Jade and suddenly the thought of being trapped in an RV suddenly didn't seem so bad.

Actually, that was a lie. Being trapped in an RV when it was a hundred degrees with five other people was absolutely miserable. Where could Cat possibly be?

Jade whipped out her phone and quickly dialed Cat's number, waiting impatiently for the other girl to pick up. Jade felt her heart lurch when the call went to voicemail.

_"Hi! It's Cat! I'm not here right now, but I promise I'll call you back as soon as I get back! Bye!" _There was a long pause. "_Was that good Ja-" _Jade heard the long beep that followed, and she shut her phone without leaving a message. At that point Jade had just been annoyed that Cat wasn't picking up her phone.

An hour later she was starting to get worried.

"I can't believe Cat's not back yet," Jade said as she fanned herself weakly with her hand.

"How hot is it now?"

"107 degrees," Robbie answered as he glanced at the thermometer resting on the wall of the RV. Everybody groaned.

"Oh my god. I forgot," Tori said. Jade turned in her direction.

"What?"

"I brought a fan. A battery powered fan." No way. Tori began digging through her purse and Jade crawled over. If she came through now, Jade would actually consider not hating her. Not that she would ever consider her a friend of course.

"Here it is!" Vega pulled out the most pitiful fan Jade had ever seen.

"Oh, stop."

"That's it?"

"That's your fan?" Everybody else apparently agreed.

"Yeah," Vega mumbled weakly.

"It's an embarrassment," Jade said. And to think, she had actually been on the verge of not hating that girl. That was certainly a mistake.

"Okay fine then, I guess I just won't turn it on-"

"No no no!" As much as Jade hated the girl, she hated this heat even more. Where in the world was Cat?

Another hour later -or was it two? Jade didn't really know- Jade was sure that this was as close to hell as they could get. Vega's pathetic little fan had stopped working, Shapiro had stolen the last drop of water in the RV, and now Jade was pretty sure that something was dripping on her. What the hell?

"Something's dripping on me." Beck climbed over quickly and held his hand out, frowning when he didn't feel any water.

"Nothing's dripping."

"Yes look, on my arm," Jade pointed to her arm where there were little drops of water on her arm. "And on my forehead. What's going on? What's happening?" Jade cried frantically. She wasn't bothering to hide the distress in her voice anymore. God…it couldn't be _that, _could it? There was no way.

"You're sweating."

"No! No I'm not. I don't sweat! I am not sweating!" Jade could hear her voice growing hoarser at every word that was leaving her mouth, but she didn't care. She was freaking out. She was Jade West. She did not sweat.

"You're sweating," Beck repeated. Jade collapsed on the ground in tears.

Oh, god. She was sweating. It was like one of her worst nightmares was coming to life. She was sweating. Her life was over. She was going to die for sure.

"We have to get out of here," Jade croaked. God, her voice sounded disgusting too.

"Yeah, thank you Catherine Obvious," Vega retorted and Jade was temporarily relieved of her misery. What did Vega just say?

"What?" Trina asked from the couch above her.

"I said thank you Catherine Obvious," Vega repeated.

"Did she say 'Catherine Obvious?'" Robbie chuckled. His voice was muffled from the pillow his face was buried in.

"It's Captain Obvious." Andre said.

"Huh?" Jade was actually glad for Vega's stupidity.

"The expression is 'thank you Captain Obvious," she pointed out. A few more minutes and Vega was close to tears. Jade didn't even crack a smile.

She was sweating, miserable, and most importantly, Jade was worried.

She wasn't going to admit it, but she was worried about Cat. It had been hours and Cat still wasn't back. Knowing Cat, Jade was pretty sure that the girl could have been kidnapped by someone who had offered her "candy," or drowned in the ocean because she thought she'd seen a pretty shell in the water. The more rational part of her brain told her that Cat had probably just met someone on the beach and forgotten about them.

For some reason, that explanation didn't make Jade feel any better.

They were singing.

It was over a hundred degrees, Jade was _sweating_, they were all still trapped in the RV, and they were singing.

Jade was just about ready to knock herself out to put herself out of her misery when she felt it. The tiniest burst of air brushed her cheek as the door of the RV swung open.

"Hi everyone!" Cat's voice pierced through the thick air and filled the room like a breath of fresh air. There was a momentary pause as everyone blankly stared at Cat, her presence barely registering. Jade glanced at Cat's figure, allowing her eyes to roam up and down at the hallucination.

And then it hit her.

Cat was alive.

They were alive.

They were saved.

In an instant, Jade and the rest of the group had snapped out of their stupor and were dashing out of the RV.

Jade sighed as the sweet, delicious air blasted her in the face and her eyes immediately sought out Cat who was being attacked with hugs. Jade shut her eyes as she fell back against the wall of the RV, relishing the feel of its cool surface. Despite the fact that it had been out in the sun for hours, the metallic surface was still cooler than the inside of the RV.

When Jade opened her eyes again, Cat was in front of her. Without a second thought, Jade wrapped her arms around the smaller girl tightly. It was such a tiny gesture, and Jade wasn't used to over thinking her actions, but the metaphorical cogs in her head had come to life as she gripped Cat a little tighter.

The first thing that she noticed was that she really didn't care if people saw her hugging Cat. Jade wasn't a prude and she most certainly didn't mind being affectionate in public, but she had always been wary of being "touchy-feely" with Cat around other people. Something about it just screamed, "Weak!" and if there was one thing Jade refused to be thought of, it was weak. At that moment she didn't really care who saw her.

The second thought that wafted through her mind as her face brushed Cat's hair, and she breathed in the scent of Cat's shampoo, and perfume, and something else she couldn't quite place, was that Cat smelled nice. Actually, it was more than just nice. Something about it was rather intoxicating and made Jade want to hold Cat just a little longer…No, no, no, friends did not like smelling each other.

The last thing that had come to mind as Jade released Cat was the realization that she liked hugging Cat. It made her feel…good.

"Ew, Jade you're all sweaty," Cat said and Jade's eyes narrowed as she attempted to brush the offending sweat off her body.

"Never speak of it!"

Tori was babbling something about the time and the Pacific Ocean and with a hearty cheer, they were all dashing towards the ocean.

"So Cat, where were you?" Tori asked once they had reached a suitable location for their beach blanket and umbrella.

"Oh, I met these really cute guys and we had shaved ice, a water gun fight, and one of them even helped me make a pot out of clay. I wish you guys had been there. It was so much fun, and they were so cool!" Jade felt the white hot anger bubble up in seconds. She had been with cute boys? They had been left to die in a RV because Cat had met a bunch of cute boys.

"What the hell Cat? You left us because of some guys you met? We could have died in there!" Jade growled and the smile on Cat's face dropped instantly. There were no words for the emotions that were pulsing through Jade at the moment. It was a strange mix of anger, annoyance, jealousy…and betrayal? Jade conveniently chose to ignore the last two and just focus on anger.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you guys were stuck in the RV or I would have come back. I promise. I would never leave you…guys behind," Cat said, earnestly taking a step forward. Jade was caught slightly off guard by Cat's slip up. She had covered it up quickly, but Jade had picked up on the slight pause.

_I would never leave you behind._

Robbie coughed awkwardly, and both Jade and Cat turned to face him. Jade was surprised to find that her nose nearly brushed Cat's as she was turning. She hadn't realized how close they'd gotten to each other in those few seconds. They were standing only a few inches apart.

The rest of the group was staring at them from a few feet off. Beck and Andre were shooting each other a knowing glance, Robbie just looked uncomfortable and Tori was blinking at them in confusion.

"Whatever. Let's just go. I need to cool off." Jade spun around on her heels and marched off towards the ocean. The cogs in her head were whirling out of control.

It was nearing 6 o'clock and Jade was relaxing under the cool shade of the beach umbrella. The others were engaged in a game of 3-on-3 beach volleyball and Jade made sure to keep her eyes focused elsewhere.

It was incredibly stupid of her and Jade couldn't believe her own lack of self restraint, but every time she looked over at the game, she couldn't help but zero in on Cat.

Sure, she'd always known Cat was attractive (everybody knew that) and the combination of middle school gym and small cramped dressing rooms had allowed Jade to see her fair share of Cat's skin. The only problem was, Jade had never looked at Cat's body intentionally; not like she was doing now.

There was a loud shriek that came from the volleyball court, and Jade looked over just in time to see Trina fall to the sand clutching her eye as a volleyball hit her in the face. On the other side of the net, Tori didn't seem too apologetic.

Of course, as Jade glanced back over at Trina her eyes betrayed her once more as they locked on to the person who was standing right beside Trina's hunched over figure. Her eyes lingered for far too long, and Jade was alarmed to find that it was actually difficult to wrench her gaze from Cat's figure even when she realized that she was blatantly checking her best friend out. She had never been more thankful for sunglasses in her life.

Jade jumped as Cat turned to look at her, (it was almost as if she had felt the eyes on her) and even from a distance Jade could see Cat grin as she bolted in her direction.

"Jade!" Jade pointedly stared down at the sand as Cat approached. Suddenly, the annoying rough little grains didn't seem so bad after all. In fact, they had suddenly gotten extremely interesting.

"Do you want to play volleyball with us? Trina got hit in the face with a ball," Cat giggled at this, "and now she doesn't want to play anymore and we need someone else to play with us to make it even."

"No."

"Please." Jade scowled as Cat's started using what Jade liked to call her "baby talk" voice. Unfortunately it was also the same voice that she had trouble saying no to.

"Why don't you guys just find someone else to play? I'm sure there are plenty of people around here who want to play."

"I want you to play with us." Jade's heart thudded in her chest.

"No."

"Please." Cat was sure to stretch the word out for as long as possible and Jade could feel her resolve start to crack.

"No."

"Please."

"…Fine. But I'm not running or doing anything like that." Cat cheered and flashed a quick smile before running off to tell the others, and Jade trudged after her slowly. Ugh, when had she become so pathetic?

"Jade's playing with us!"

"Wow, I'm impressed Cat. You actually managed to drag Jade off her butt to come play volleyball." There was an amused glint in Beck's eyes as he spoke and Jade was starting to find that he seemed to be looking at her with that look a lot recently. It was like he knew something was up.

"Oh, shut up," Jade snapped back half heartedly. She was too busy trying to keep her eyes focused on the other side of the net where Cat wasn't currently standing. Even as the game progressed Jade was sure to keep her gaze focused on the other side of the net, batting away the occasional ball that flew in her direction.

She was trying to ignore the way Cat's eyes kept flickering over; shining with an emotion that Jade was starting to like seeing.

She was trying to ignore the way Cat's laughter was ringing through her head.

She was really trying to ignore the way her heart leaped every time Cat looked in her direction, the smile never leaving her face. A smile was itching to form on her own face.

"You suck, Robbie!" Jade was actually thankful for Rex's constant jibes. They provided a good distraction.

"I do not!" Robbie wrenched the ball from Andre's hands and pounded it with his fist, sending it sailing over the net. "Ha! I told you…" Jade drowned out the rest of Robbie's words as she realized the ball was heading in her direction.

"I got it!" Cat didn't appear to have realized that Jade was standing so close to the ball's destination as she dashed over.

"Cat!" Jade cried sharply, holding her arms out and taking a step backward, but it was too late as Cat's body collided with her own and they went tumbling in a mess of tangled limbs.

For a moment, all Jade could feel was Cat's body pressed completely against her own as they were sent crashing to the ground. Cat's legs touching hers, Cat's fingers gripping her arms tightly, Cat's stomach pressed against her own.

Jade was pretty sure that falling was supposed to hurt. She was subconsciously aware of the fact that there were stones and shells digging into her back as she hit the sand, but she barely even noticed them. She was too busy paying attention to the fact that Cat's face was inches away from her own, and that their bodies were still touching.

Cat was staring at her with wide eyes. Her mouth dropped open slightly and Jade watched as a pink tongue darted out and ran a circle over her lips; those same lips that had been haunting her nightmare for days.

Jade wanted to throw Cat off. She really did, but when she tried to move her arms she realized that Cat's hands had retained a firm grip on them. Cat was pinning her down, and Jade didn't have the strength to fight back.

_Or maybe you don't want to._

Jade was acutely aware of every inch of Cat's skin that was touching their own. One of Cat's legs was wedged between her own, their stomachs were just barely brushing each other, and Cat's fingers were burning into her arms. She was also acutely aware of the fact that the only things completely separating their bodies were four tiny strips of cloth.

Jade wished she was back in the RV. She wished she was dying of dehydration in a room full of sweaty teenagers as the temperature shot up by the second because it was _nothing _compared to the burning sensation that was scalding every inch of her skin now body. In fact, Jade was certain that she had never felt like this before, she had never felt like her entire body was on fire.

She had never felt this amazing.

Jade's attention had switched back to Cat's face because her breathing was becoming erratic, and her warm, _sweet_ breaths were falling all over Jade's face. Jade could feel her own breath growing short and every second slowed to an hour. Her arms were itching to reach up a touch Cat's face, but her body was frozen in shock as she watched Cat lean down, and her face got closer and closer-

"Are you guys alright?" Cat sprang up as Beck, Andre, Vega, and Robbie rushed over to them. Jade was torn between feeling relieved and disappointed at the sound of Andre's voice.

"Yeah we're fine," Cat's voice was shaky, like she had never used it before and Jade didn't speak up because she didn't trust her own voice at the moment. She didn't trust herself at that moment.

"You okay, Jade?" Beck asked when she remained planted in the sand, staring up at Cat. Beck held out a hand, and Jade gratefully grabbed it as he pulled her up. Cat's eyes were boring holes into her and not for the first time all Jade knew in that moment was that she had to get away.

"I'm going to go wash all this crap off my back." She managed to mutter coherently as she dashed off towards the water.

The icy waves crashed into her and for a moment Jade lost herself in them as they pounded against her burning skin. They weren't nearly cold enough. Her back stung from the various cuts and scrapes, but it was nothing compared to the inner turmoil that was raging on within her.

The first time the feelings had arisen she had been helping Cat. It had been nothing new, nothing she had never done before, but something had changed that night.

The second time they had come was when Cat had kissed her on the cheek. She had been caught up in the moment. She hadn't been sure of her feelings then.

But this time… she knew exactly what her feelings were and she had wanted it. Really _really_ wanted it, and the scariest part was that Cat had wanted it too.

**I know that everybody must be sick of hearing me apologize by now, but I'm really sorry about how late this one was. My teachers have been flooding me with homework and tests.**

**In regards to future chapters, I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with this, but I'm not sure just how many episodes I'm going to cover. I'm definitely going to finish with Season 1, but I don't know how much of Season 2 I'm going to do simply because it's extremely difficult to write when the characters seem to have different personalities and relationships(how they interact) with each other every episode.**


	8. The Great Ping Pong Scam

By the end of the week, Jade had decided that the school really needed to have a dress code or a uniform. Pants, robes, full-body armor, _anything_ really that would prevent Cat from wearing those damn shorts and dresses. It seemed like no matter what the temperature, or what the weather was like Cat always showed up in minimal clothing, and it was starting to drive away the last bit of sanity that Jade had left.

At least, she was pretty sure that she still had _some _sanity left.

Neither of them had even spoken to each other since the beach, and Jade made sure that it stayed that way by making it so that she was never alone with Cat. Despite her best efforts to avoid Cat entirely, Jade found that it was impossible since she and Cat spent quite a bit of time together in their little group of friends. Luckily, none of them had even seemed to notice that something was off between the two of them. They were, after all, actresses.

Several times, Jade had seen Cat look over like she wanted to say something, but she had always bit her lip and turned away. Jade had never been more thankful for Cat's self-restraint, even if it was minimal. She wasn't sure how she would react if Cat did bring it up, but she was pretty sure that she would not react well.

Jade wasn't entirely sure just what she should do.

Avoiding Cat was impossible.

Acting like everything was normal was clearly not working either.

That meant she had only two options left.

The first was to completely distance herself entirely from her friends, so she would never have to see Cat and her incredibly short shorts every again. As much as Jade hated certain people in their group (a certain nosy brunette to be specific), she didn't want to leave them completely. There was also the fact that an abrupt departure would definitely draw suspicion from Beck and Andre. Probably Vega too since she was always so preoccupied with other people's lives. Besides, she had already determined that she didn't want Cat completely out of her life.

The second option was even more unthinkable than the first, and Jade had buried it the second it had come up. There was no way (absolutely no way) that she was going to actually consider pursuing her attraction for Cat. It was simply ridiculous.

It was definitely strange; thinking through her actions. While she was by no means impulsive, Jade didn't spend hours weighing the pros and cons of something. She normally just went with whatever her gut told her to do after a little consideration, but Jade wasn't particularly keen on listening to various parts of her body for advice at the moment; especially not the muscle that was pounding away in her chest.

"Jade, let me join the ping-pong team!" Vega's insistent whining was really starting to get annoying.

"No." Jade turned back to the girls she had been talking to in an attempt to shake Vega off, but the other girl was now prodding her in the back with her finger.

"Jade, I'm not going to go, and you just can't say no."

She was right of course. Jade could also sing the word. "No." Say it in a high pitched voice. "No." Say it a low voice. "No."

"Alright, well you can." The bell rang and Jade made for the exit when Vega spotted Lane walking by and ordered her not to move.

"I'm staying here because I want to stay here," Jade said defiantly as she took a sip of her coffee. She might as well see what Vega was going to do about it.

"Jade is the captain of the ping pong team, and I want to try out, but she says I can't." Vega was explaining to Lane.

There were quite a few reasons Jade didn't want Vega trying out for the "ping pong team," the primary reason being that it wasn't a ping pong team.

Two years ago, Jade had stumbled across a ping pong table in one of the school classrooms with Andre, Beck, Cat, and Robbie, and Robbie had suggested that they start their own ping pong team.

Of course, it was a stupid idea since nobody played ping pong and Jade had made her opinion on the matter clear with a solid slap to the back of Robbie's head. The idea was soon dropped and forgotten.

A few days later, Cat had told them ("them" being herself, Andre, Beck, and Robbie) about a fancy restaurant her parents had taken her to. Apparently, the food was amazing, but expensive, but that didn't stop the rest of the group from wanting to try it.

Jade, in her brilliance, had remembered that Beck had once told her that all Hollywood Arts sports teams received a minimum of $1,500 a year for travel and equipment. That's when she had gotten the idea to start the fake ping pong team to pay for a trip to the dinner.

Then Robbie had ruined her brilliant plan by reminding them that all sports teams had to have a faculty member which meant that they had gone to the only teacher who wouldn't sell them out. Sikowitz.

He had refused initially because it was "illegal" or something stupid like that, until they had decided to take 400 dollars to buy a ping pong trophy for their school, and bring Sikowitz out to dinner with them. That way, their principal wouldn't have been fired for having a school with the worst sports record in the county, and they could all have the most amazing food they had ever tasted.

There was no way Vega could find out about any of this though. She would just rat them out to the principal and they'd all get in trouble.

"Oh come on, why do you all have to drag me into your problems?" Lane was complaining as Jade made her way to the base of the stairs where he and Vega were now standing.

"You're the guidance counselor here." A totally useless one. "Can we have some guidance?" Not good guidance at any rate.

"Okay, fine."

"Look what it says here on the official Hollywood Arts website." Vega took out her phone and showed it to Lane.

"Uggh, my life is slipping away," Jade groaned.

"Read it," Vega said, ignoring her and handing the phone over to Lane.

"All students are encouraged to participate in school sanctioned events, clubs, and sports teams," Lane read aloud.

"And how can I participate in ping pong if the team captain," Vega shot her a look, "won't let me try out?"

"You gotta let her try out," Lane said pointedly. There was no way.

"We don't need any more players," Jade argued.

"Read the phone Jade," Vega stuck the phone in her face and began waving it around. "Read the phone."

Jade could only glare and shake her head. Unfortunately, it seemed that she didn't have a choice.

"Fine, I'll let you try out."

"Awesome, I'm going to go to class now. Bye!" Vega said as she dashed off down the hallway, phone still in hand.

"So, Jade," Lane ventured once the two of them were alone. "How are things going with you and Cat?"

"Everything's just peachy," Jade deadpanned.

"That's nice to hear. I'm glad you two worked things out with each other." Jade feigned a smile as Lance departed.

Worked things out? Yeah, right.

She and Cat had done the exact opposite of "worked things out," and now she was stuck at a crossroads with no idea as to which direction to take.

As much as she hated to admit it, she needed advice and that of course, only left one person.

"Jade? What are you doing here?" Beck's weary face greeted Jade as the door to his RV swung open.

"I needed to talk to someone." Without bothering to wait for an invitation, Jade strode passed him and sat herself down on his couch.

"So you decided to barge into my RV at 10 o'clock at night?" Jade ignored the infuriating smile on his face and stared at the carpet while Beck shut the door and sat down next to her on the couch.

"Is this about Cat?"

"Am I that obvious?" Jade said bitterly, not really caring much about the answer.

"Not to most people, but I know you." There was a long silence. Jade spent her time plucking at the cloth of Beck's couch. Beck was tapping his foot anxiously: a sign the he wanted to say something.

"Well spit it out. I know you want to say something," Jade finally said after she could no longer control her patience.

"Are you attracted to her?"

"…Maybe."

"Jade, I can't help you if you don't tell me anything," Beck groaned into his hands.

"Fine, I am. Happy?"

"Do you love her?"

"What?" Jade sputtered in confusion. "I haven't even dated her yet. How the hell could I possibly love her?"

"Not like that. I mean, do you love her as a friend?"

"I'm not answering that," Jade snapped. It didn't matter who she was talking to, there was no was she was going to start talking about her feelings unless it involved hate.

"Do you want to date her?" Beck tried again, just a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"I," Her voice wavered. "I don't know."

"You don't know? It's a yes or no question."

"If I knew do you think I'd be here?"

"I'm not asking if you want to marry her and spend the rest of your life with her, I just want to know if you want to go out with her."

It should have been an easy question. Jade always knew what she wanted. That's the kind of person she was. It didn't matter what other people thought as long as it made her happy. So why couldn't she come up with an answer?

"Forget it," Jade mumbled, not wanting to think about the issue anymore, as she stood up from Beck's couch and headed towards the door of the RV. "Forget I ever mentioned anything. It wouldn't work."

"Hold on," Beck grabbed her by the wrist. "You can't just forget about it and run away."

"I'm not running away from anything!" Jade growled vehemently as she snatched her hand back from Beck's grip.

"Yes you are! Stop lying to yourself. Stop trying to run away from your feelings." Under any other situation Jade would have felt amused to see Beck's calm exterior slip, but she was too focused on her own words to think about anything else at the moment.

"I'm not running away!" Jade reiterated, but the words sounded empty and meaningless to her ears.

"You are, Jade. What are you afraid of? You already know that Cat likes you. There's no way she'd ever reject you. It's not like our break up hurt you in anyway. You're the one who broke up with me. You have nothing to be scared of."

"It doesn't matter. We would never work out. She's like a goddamn kid, Beck. I would corrupt her and hurt her, and she wouldn't be able to handle it. There's also the fact that she's my best friend," Jade was on a roll now, spitting out anything and everything you could think of. It occurred to her later that she must have sounded quite deranged and desperate as she talked, but she just needed Beck to agree with something. "And did you forget that we're both girls? Last time I checked, people aren't exactly accepting of that kind of thing. Can you imagine Cat getting harassed by all the kids at our school?"

"We go to Hollywood Arts, everyone there is different. This is ridiculous, Jade, and you know it. Stop trying to make up excuses."

"I thought you were the one who cared about everyone's feelings. Do you want to see Cat get hurt?" She was scrambling to find any semblance of a reason now.

"Is that your way of saying you're going to hurt her if you date her?"

"I could. It wouldn't be on purpose, but you know I'm not a nice person, and Cat's so sensitive. I'd probably end up hurting her feelings the second we started dating."

"So you do want to date her? That's just another reason you should give it a shot."

"Are you listening to me?" Jade fired back. Beck heaved a sigh, and he got up in front of Jade's fuming figure, taking her hands in his.

"Are you listening to yourself? You care about her, Jade. You care about her a lot. How many people can you say that about?"

"Just because I care about her doesn't mean that I should date her."

"Well then who would you date? Why did you even date me? Because I'm good looking? If that's the only reason, then Cat's perfect for you." Jade didn't fail to notice the bitterness hidden in his words.

"You know that that wasn't the only reason, and this has nothing to do with you. Why are you getting so pissed off because of this?"

"Why are you being so difficult about this?" Beck finally snapped, dropping Jade's hands in frustration. "Are you afraid that people are going to judge you or something?"

"This isn't about me, Beck. She's going to get hurt and I'm not about to let that happen ," Jade wrenched the door of the RV open, and the last thing Beck said as she slammed the door behind her was, "You're already hurting her by not telling her."

But Jade didn't hear what he had said. She was too focused on the voice in her own head.

_What are you really scared of?_

A few days later, Jade and the rest of the ping pong team met Tori in the recreation room so she could "try out." They would each play her in a game and if she won she would move on to play the next person until she beat everybody.

Beck was losing.

Jade wasn't incredibly worried though. She had a trump card to play if Vega did win. In fact, this whole thing was just for show. There was no way Vega was getting into this. It was one of the few things Vega hadn't invaded yet, and she would spill their secret without a doubt.

"Go Beck!" Cat was jumping up and down and waving her arms around like some kind of cheerleader. The only things she was missing were the uniform and pompoms. Jade quickly steered her thoughts away from the image of Cat in a cheerleading uniform. God, she was acting like some sort of horny teenage boy.

"Thanks for the support, Cat," Tori muttered sarcastically as she won another point.

"You're welcome, Tori."

Andre was up next.

Jade watched from her new position on the couch as Vega beat him too.

How could that girl be this good at ping pong too?

"At this rate you're going to have to let her join. The only people left are Cat and Robbie and they suck at ping pong," Beck commented from the other side of the couch.

It was Cat's turn next.

Jade knew that there was no way Cat even stood a chance. A few more minutes and Robbie would be the only person Vega had left to face before she revealed her plan.

"Eek!" Cat shrieked as Tori served the ball. She dropped the paddle and dashed to the safety of the far wall.

"Are you okay?" Tori asked in concern. Jade groaned into her hands and the urge to throttle the girl was building up quickly. Yes, you idiot, she's screaming and freaking out because she's _okay_.

If Vega hadn't suspected that something was going on before, she certainly did now.

"I'm okay," Cat gasped, pulling herself up from the wall. "I just wasn't ready. I can play now." Jade saw Cat sneak a glance in her direction and Jade realized with a start that Cat was doing this for her.

"Forget it." There was no way she could sit through more shrieking from Cat, especially when it was because of her. "She forfeits. Shapiro, you're up."

"Okay!" Robbie cried eagerly. He handed Rex off to Beck, and leaped to the side of the table opposite of Vega.

Jade could only watch as Robbie was thoroughly throttled. For a moment she almost felt bad for him.

"Way to go, Tori. You beat all of us," Andre congratulated as Tori gave a mock bow.

"Ah hem." They all turned to look at the puppet in Robbie's arms. "I think you guys are forgetting someone."

"Robbie," Jade growled. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him and his stupid puppet.

"What?" Robbie threw his free hand in the air as a sign of surrender. "It was Rex, not me."

"Just hurry up and get it over with."

Rex, surprisingly, fared the best out of all of them. Unfortunately, he still lost.

"Well?" Tori prompted, a victorious smile covering face as she approached Jade. Jade simply smiled back. Finally, the moment she had been waiting for.

"You didn't make the team."

"W-What? I beat everybody."

"I don't care." Jade raised the phone that had been in her hand and opened to the school's website. "Read the school website."

"When a student tries out for a sport for which there is no coach, the team captain shall decide if the student is granted or denied acceptance to the team."

"Captain says, 'denied!'" Jade said gleefully as she took her phone back. Tori continued to gape at her, and Jade continued to smile.

Oh, revenge was sweet.

Jade had always loved the game of Twister. It was a game designed to cause people pain and discomfort. What wasn't to like?

Even as she toppled down, nearly crashing into Robbie, Jade couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

"Okay, let's start over," Jade said as she got up.

"Okay, okay, let me get a drink first," Beck said, walking toward the vending machine in the room. Jade couldn't remember it being there before. Maybe someone had installed a new one recently.

Jade walked over to her bag to grab a dollar and Cat pulled out a fresh can of soda. The top popped open with a hiss. They both looked up and Jade was startled to find herself staring straight into Cat's eyes.

It was the closest they had been in a week. Her conversation with Beck was still fresh in her mind.

_What are you scared of?_

Cat opened her mouth to say something, but Robbie groaned and her attention turned to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I pulled a muscle," Robbie responded.

"You can't pull what you don't have," Jade replied with a smirk. Sometimes they just made it too easy for her.

A loud thumping noise drew their attention to the vending machine that Andre and Beck were currently hitting which probably meant that the vending machine had probably taken the dollar.

"Guys, guys," Jade interrupted the banging and walked over. "Try rocking it." Together, the three of them rocked the machine back and forth, until Beck lost control and the whole thing tumbled down with a shriek.

The _machine_ shrieked.

Oh god, she really was going insane. First, she was constantly hearing voices in her head that were telling her what to do and now even machines were starting to talk. What was next? Talking squirrels? Or maybe her favorite scissors were going to come to life and start attacking her.

"Did that machine just shriek like a teenage girl?" Andre asked with a baffled expression on his face.

Jade bit back a sigh of relief when she realized that she wasn't simply imagining things.

The back of the machine rattled and Jade watched as the entire sheet of metal that covered the back of the machine popped up and fell off, revealing an all too familiar head of brown hair.

"All right, who put me in the soda machine?" Tori Vega exclaimed in fake surprise. Jade could feel her fingers twitching by her side.

Unable to hide their story for any longer since Vega had been _spying _on them, the entire group pitched in as they retold the story of how they had started the fake ping pong team to get money to go to the restaurant.

"So, are you going to bust us now and ruin everything?" Jade asked, standing up to look Vega in the eyes.

"No. If…" Vega trailed off and Jade felt her stomach lurch.

"If what?" She shouldn't have even bothered to ask because she knew exactly what was coming.

A few days later, Sikowitz announced Tori Vega as the newest member of the Hollywood Arts ping pong team and that night the group headed out to dinner.

Jade gave her body one last look over in the mirror before she grabbed her purse from where it was resting.

She looked_ good._

_Trying to impress someone? _The annoying voice was back in her head, and it seemed to have taken up Beck's voice.

_No. _She answered back. The voice in her heard was about to respond when Jade heard her phone ring, and she snatched it up in annoyance.

"Yes?"

"Hey, sorry to spring this on you last second, but I'm running late and I don't have time to pick up Cat. Can you get her on your way to the restaurant?"

"Beck, if this is some kind of stupid plan to get me and Cat together, then it's not going to work."

"It's not. I swear." The worst part was that Jade couldn't even tell if he was lying. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen if you're in the car with her for twenty minutes?"

"We could get into an accident, the car could explode, and we would both die in a fiery ball of death, all because you made me get into a car with her," Jade replied wryly

"If you're scared Jade, then I won't make you do it, but-"

"Fine, I'll do it." There was no way she was giving him any kind of satisfaction. "Goodbye."

The drive to Cat's house was much too quick, and Jade found herself parked in front of it before long. Climbing out of her car, Jade strode across the lawn and walked in front of the door, and rang it without any hesitation.

The door opened, and Jade was greeted with the back of a head with long brown hair.

"Cat, your friend Beck is here to pick you up. How are you do…" The words died as soon as Cat's mother turned around and got a clear look at who was standing in front of her door. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me." Jade repeated mockingly.

"What are you doing here? I thought Beck was supposed to pick Cat up."

_I thought he was too_

"Well clearly, he's not here," Jade said impatiently.

"Yes, clearly." There was a long pause as Jade simply stared at Cat's mother with one eyebrow raised in a challenge.

"I'm ready! I'm coming, mom. Beck, are you ready to…Jade? What are you doing here?" Cat's body appeared in the doorway, and Jade felt her jaw drop.

_Holy shit_

By any standards, Cat's dress was fairly simple. It wasn't too short, ending just above her knees, it wasn't particularly tight, and it didn't even show off ridiculous amounts of skin. Nevertheless, Jade thought Cat looked _hot _in it.

Jade was pretty sure that words were supposed to be coming out of her mouth. She was aware of the fact that her mouth was moving up and down and that her brain should have been sending the correct signals to her mouth to make noise, but no sound was coming out of her mouth.

"Jade, are you okay?" Cat waved her hand rapidly in her face.

"Yeah," Jade managed to grunt in what she hoped was coherent English, but at the moment she really couldn't focus on anything but Cat's body in that dress.

"Are you going to take me to the restaurant?" Jade nodded, turning on her heels and forcing her legs to move in the direction of her car.

"Make sure she's back by 11," Jade vaguely heard Cat's mother yell before the door slammed shut.

That's when the reality of the situation hit Jade like a barreling freight train, and two realizations were shining out with brilliant clarity.

The first was that this was the first time they had been alone together in a week, maybe more.

The second was that they were both dressed up, she was taking Cat to a fancy restaurant, and Cat's mother hand ordered her to have Cat back by 11. It was almost like…

It was almost like they were going on a date.

_No, it's not a date. We are not dating and I don't want to be dating._

_Sheesh, Jade. I thought you were supposed to be good at lying. _There was Beck's annoying voice again.

_We are not going out, and nobody said we we're going out. It just resembles the start of a date. We're going with other friends._

_So, it's like a double date._

_It's not a date. You-Beck!, Andre, Robbie, and Tori are not dating either._

_No, you just wish it was a date, and that you and Cat were all alone together in a restaurant…_ God, now the voice was starting to sound like Vega.

_No, I don't._

_Jade's going on a da-ate!_

_IT IS NOT A DATE._

"Jade, are you okay? You haven't said anything." And that's when Jade realized that she was having an argument in her head with two imaginary people when there was a living, breathing human being right next to her who was looking at her like she was crazy.

"I'm fine, Cat."

"Okay." Jade watched Cat bite her lip, and Jade waited for her to say whatever she obviously wanted to. "You look really pretty."

"Thanks…You look," Nice. Good. Great. _Hot. _"Fancy." Even in the low light, Jade could see Cat blushing brilliantly.

"We have to go," Jade shut the door of her car rather violently after she climbed in, gripping the steering wheel tightly as Cat climbed into the passenger seat. Cat almost immediately started fiddling with the radio as Jade started the car. She spent the entire ride switching from station to station, belting out songs whenever she heard one that she liked.

If Jade were to write a list of her favorite things about Cat (not that she was going to do _that_), Cat's voice would have definitely have been one of the top things. She could make almost any song sound half decent. Hell, she could probably sing the phone book and make it sound good.

At the moment however, just the presence of Cat nearby was making Jade feel on edge, and she was desperately trying not to break any traffic laws in her rush to get out of the car and into a restaurant where she could sit far, far away from Cat.

"Ooh, or maybe I'll get the…" Jade tuned out the rest of Cat's sentence as she pushed open the doors to the restaurant. She spotted their usual table, and she wasn't surprised to find that she and Cat were the last ones there. The detour to Cat's house had made them late.

As Jade scanned the restaurant she couldn't help but feel that there was something a little off about the place. The tables and decorations were still the same, the lights were glowing just as they normally were, there was still a grand piano resting on a small platform at the front of the restaurant….

"Table for two?" Jade turned at the sound of a squeaky male voice and found herself face to face with a nervous looking boy who couldn't have been too much older than herself.

A glance at his name tag told Jade that his name was, "Ethan."

She forced herself to remain calm when she noticed that his eyes seemed to be glued to Cat. Cat grinned up at him with a coy expression on her face and Jade could feel her stomach curl into knots.

"Actually," Jade grabbed Cat by the wrist, "we already have a table." And with that, she dragged Cat away to said table.

They were greeted with a chorus of "His," and that was the moment when Jade noticed that her usual seat was occupied by one, Tori Vega, which meant that the only two seats available were the two empty ones that were right next to each other.

If Beck's smirk was any indication, this was no coincidence. Jade, not wanting to give Beck any sort of satisfaction, sat down without a word and picked up a menu. This night was just getting better and better.

Jade really had no idea why she was so freaked out. It wasn't like she'd never sat next to Cat before, and she should have had no problem ignoring the other girl. The only problem was that Jade was aware every time they touched, and it seemed to be happening a lot.

"Hey, can somebody pass the salt?" Jade and Cat both reached at the same time, and naturally their hands collided, causing them both to pull back abruptly.

Tori looked at them strangely before reaching over and handing Beck the salt. It was only much later when Jade realized that Beck had been eating a salad, and that she could never remember him ever eating a salty salad before.

The only highlight of Jade's night had been insulting Tori. In addition to the fact that Jade had conveniently left out the fact that Tori had to bring a fancy dress, which left Tori in nothing but the ping pong uniform she had been wearing earlier, she had taken every opportunity she had to irritate the other girl.

"You know, the food is already dead, Jade," Vega pointed out once their main courses had arrived and Jade was brutally stabbing at her steak.

"Oh, I know. I'm just pretending that it's your face."

"You…You are such a gank!"

"It does kind of look like a face if you shut one eye and tilt your head," Sikowitz demonstrated from the other side of the table.

Andre chuckled and tilted his head too. "Hey, if you look at it this way it does kind of look like your face, Tori."

"I can see it too," Beck said, following Andre's lead.

"You're eating Tori's face?" Cat whispered aghast as she looked anxiously at Jade.

"That piece of meat is not my face!" Everyone else laughed, and Tori glared at Jade from across the table.

"I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual."

"How are you all enjoying the meal?" Jade turned to see the waiter from earlier, Ethan, approaching their table.

There was a chorus of praises and the boy flushed proudly.

"That's good. Is there anything else I can get you all?" His eyes never left Cat's face.

"No, we're fine," Jade snapped. "You can go now. I'm sure there are other tables that require your," annoying, "presence."

"O-okay. Just let me know if you need anything."

"That was rude," Tori chastised after he moved out of earshot.

Jade chose not to reply and she stabbed at her steak again. This time she was imagining the face of a certain waiter.

It was nearing eight o'clock when they finally reached the desserts. By that time everybody was filled to the brim with food, and Jade was sure that her stomach was going to explode any second.

She was relieved that the dinner was finally drawing to a close.

Oh, how wrong she was.

"What the hairballs!" Sikowitz cried as he scanned over their check that had just arrived.

"What?"

"It's 1,300 dollars," he hissed.

A flurry of gasps overtook them. They only had 1,100 to pay for dinner. What was going on?

"It's never been over 700," Cat said. And only one thing had changed since the last time…

"Way to go, Tori," Jade snapped.

"I ordered the same thing you did," Tori countered.

"Wait, wait, I see what the problem is. They mistakenly charged us an extra 600 dollars for a bowl of caviar," Sikowitz chuckled as he called the manager over.

"Yes? Is anything wrong?"

"We were mistakenly charged for 600 dollars worth of caviar."

"Oh, that's not a mistake," They all turned at the sound of another voice to spot the waitress that had been serving their table. "That awkward young man over there ordered a big bowl of caviar."

Awkward young man? That could only mean one person.

"Man, what were you thinking?" Robbie sputtered at Rex as everyone at the table turned to him.

"I didn't order any caviar," Rex said.

"Robbie!" Cat cried.

"I didn't know it was that expensive," Robbie said defensively. The table erupted into chaos as everybody began shouting at Robbie. Even Cat was furious (that was never a good sign).

Just as Robbie looked like he was on the verge of breaking down and crawling underneath the table, Sikowitz hushed them all.

"Robbie can't help what he is. Nevertheless, we don't have enough money to pay the check," he explained to the manager.

"Well sir, I'm sorry but payment is required or I'm going to have to call the police."

"The police?"

The police? They couldn't call the police. If her father…if her father found out about this than there was no way he'd ever let her live it down. He'd probably pull her out of Hollywood Arts because it was turning her into some kind of "punk."

"Jade, what's going to happen to us? I don't want to go to jail. It's scary there and jail is for bad people," Cat whimpered in a quiet voice. Before Jade could reply, another voice interrupted all of them. A quick glance at the man's suit let Jade know that the owner had just arrived.

It soon became apparent that he had come to speak with the manager about the lack of live music.

Live music! That was what had been bothering her before. There was normally someone singing along to a piano in the restaurant. Apparently, the performers had gotten until some sort of accident and the manager had neglected to hire a new act.

That's when Tori came up with the solution that (even though Jade was reluctant to admit it) saved all of them a trip to jail.

"Give me your dress," Tori hissed at her.

"What?" Jade asked in confusion. Her dress? The one she was wearing? Why on earth did she want her dress?

"Give me your dress."

"So, uh, what's up between you and Cat?"

"I'm already letting you wear my clothes. Don't make me talk to you too." Jade threw her dress over the side of the bathroom stall as Tori handed her a pair of pants from underneath.

"Whose fault is that for not reminding me to bring a fancy dress?"

"You need a reminder? What are you, five? Did you not hear us going on and on about a _fancy _restaurant?"

"Okay, okay, I get." Jade grabbed the jacket that was tossed over the top of the stall. "Can we just not fight for five minutes? I want to know what's going on between you and Cat. She really likes you, you know?"

"Does Cat know you're telling me this?"

"Yes. She wanted to know if you like her back or if you hated her because of 'that'. She wouldn't tell me what 'that' is though." Jade stomped out of the stall and turned to see Vega already standing outside in her dress. Well, she didn't look that bad.

"Will you just leave it alone? Cat can deal with her own problems and I don't need you sticking your nose into mine." Jade walked out of the bathroom without another word.

So now Tori knew too. Fantastic, now everybody knew what was going on.

Jade settled back in her seat beside Cat, trying her best to ignore the other girl who was engaged in a conversation with Robbie. The only other person at the table was Beck as Andre and Tori were warming up at the piano.

"I heard your friend is going to be singing tonight." Jade almost slammed her head into the table in frustration. Waiter boy was back.

"Yeah, she's really good at singing," Cat replied and Jade could practically hear the smile on her face.

"Really?"

"We go to Hollywood Arts, and Tori got in because of her singing," Cat explained and the waiter's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Hollywood Arts? The performing arts school? You guys all go there?" They all nodded.

"Yeah, this is our teacher, Sikowitz," Robbie pointed to the vacant chair on the other side of the table. "Where'd he go? He was here like ten minutes ago!"

"He must have left after they gave us the bill," Beck said.

"I tried out for the school," Ethan continued as if he hadn't heard a word they had said. Seeing his excitement, Jade was pretty sure he actually hadn't heard a word they had just said. "I didn't make it, but my friends say I'm not bad at singing. It's my dream to be a performer." He eyes sparked with a fierce determination that made Jade want to laugh. Guys like him were pathetic.

"Really? I love singing too. I'd love to hear you sing," Cat said with a patented smile and a quick bat of her eyelashes. Jade felt her stomach curl into knots. There was no doubt about it, Cat was flirting with him.

Why was she flirting with him?

He was a nervous, stuttering, overzealous, unattractive boy who clearly had no life. Why on earth was Cat flirting with him? She couldn't actually like him, could she?

"Ah, really?" He asked excitedly. Before Cat could respond, he seemed to realize something. "Are you good at singing too?"

"She got a great voice," Beck piped up from the other side of the table.

"She's really good," Robbie concurred.

"She's amazing and totally out of your league." Jade was initially confused at the sound of a third voice until she realized that the words had just tumbled out of her own mouth.

_Shit_

"Her singing!" she quickly amended. "Her singing is amazing and totally out of your league. Though," Jade continued as she fixated him a glare, "she's totally out of your league too."

Robbie was staring at her open-mouthed, Cat looked stunned, and Beck was poorly concealing a smile as he took a sip of water.

Jade waited for the reprimand that was sure to come from Cat. She already had a response prepared, but when she looked over, she was surprised to find that Cat didn't look mad at her interference at all. In fact, she looked incredibly pleased with herself, almost _victorious_.

"O-oh. Well, I've got tables to serve and I've taken up enough of your time." Waiter boy quickly took a step back, whether it was from fear or surprise Jade didn't really know. "It was nice talking to you."

"Did you just say something nice about Cat?" Robbie asked in disbelief once the waiter had left. His mouth was still hanging open and he looked as if he was going to pass out from shock.

"I can be nice if I want to be. Besides, I didn't say that to be nice. That guy was being annoying and I just wanted to get rid of him somehow." _Yeah right, just keep telling yourself that._

"You're never nice to me," Robbie protested.

"That's because there's nothing nice about you. I'm being nice to you by not talking to you. You're weird, awkward, a nerd-"

"And now performing 'Tell Me That You Love Me' are Tori Vega and Andre Harris,'" the manager announced, effectively cutting off whatever else Jade was about to say.

The lights in the restaurant dimmed and Jade begrudgingly turned to watch Tori and Andre's performance. Jade watched as Tori pranced around the restaurant in _her _purple dress.

As much as it pained Jade to admit it, Tori wasn't awful at singing although Jade was sure that Cat would have done a much better job.

"Tori's voice is really nice," Cat commented as Tori continued to sing.

"It's not as good as yo- _mine,_" Jade quickly corrected. Luckily, Cat didn't seem to notice her slip up.

"You're right," Cat said with such conviction that Jade was taken aback. Cat didn't really like her _that_ much…did she?

Things only got more confusing on Jade's part when she found that she was actually touched by Cat's words. Even stranger still, she realized that a small part of her almost wanted to thank Cat. Maybe even_ hug_ her in thanks.

Jade could feel her resolve starting to falter as she drove like a maniac on her way back to Cat's house.

"…food was so yummy…" Jade was barely paying attention to what Cat was saying. Then again, she barely paid attention to what Cat was saying most of the time.

"Don't cha' think, Jade?"

"What?"

"Don't you think that we should sing together some time?" Out of her peripheral vision, Jade could see Cat fidgeting in her seat. "We haven't done a duet in such a long time and I miss singing with you."

"Hmmph, whatever."

"Really?"

"I don't care."

"Yay!"

"Cat!" Jade yelped as Cat undid her seatbelt and leaned over in an attempt to hug her. There was an angry screech as the tires of her car abruptly skidded on the pavement. "Don't do that, I'm driving!"

"Sorry." Cat slid back into her own seat, not looking the least bit apologetic.

They were silent for the rest of the ride, but Cat's constant fidgeting made enough noise to wake the entire neighborhood. Even in the low light, Jade could see Cat beaming in the seat next to her and she couldn't help feeling pleased that she had made Cat happy.

After what seemed like hours, Jade finally pulled up in front of Cat's house. Thank god, it was finally over. Now she could just go home and forget that any of this had ever-

"Can you walk me to my door?"

"What?" Jade threw her hands up in frustration.

"There aren't any lights on and it's scary."

"Cat, you door is like 20 feet away. Nothing's going to happen." There was absolutely no way that she was sending Cat to the door. That's what boyfriends did at the end of dates, and they were not dating.

"But what if someone attacks me?"

"Then I'll be watching from my car, and I'll call the police or something."

"Can you please come with me?"

"No." Sending her to the door, that would just be too much. Jade gave into a lot of things for Cat, but this was not going to be one of those things.

"Cat, just go."

"You have to come with me."

"What am I even supposed to do if I go with you? Let the bad guy attack me while you run away?"

"No, silly. You'll scare away all the bad guys. Nobody would ever hurt me if I was with you. Pleeeeeeeease?" Cat whined.

"Okay, I'll go! Just stop using that voice. It's so annoying." Jade could see Cat's 1000 watt smile shining through the darkness.

"Come on," she grumbled once she had climbed out of the car and moved to where Cat was waiting on the other side. She walked up Cat's lawn with a furious pace, not looking back at her once. She was internally berating herself for her lack of willpower.

When they finally reached the entrance to Cat's house, Jade was pretty sure that she had never been more relieved to see a door in her life.

"Look, we made it safely. Good night."

"Thanks Jade," Cat said in a soft, almost tender voice. She reached into her purse and rifled through the contents in an attempt to find her keys.

Jade didn't move from the spot. She quite literally seemed to be rooted on the spot and she didn't know why.

She was struck by a sudden urge,_ a desire_, to reach out a touch Cat. She wanted to reach over and feel Cat's smooth skin underneath her fingertips. She wanted to-NO!

"No…this has to stop," Jade whispered aloud, and the fingers in her right hand clenched into fist to stop them from moving. Cat looked up at her in confusion.

"What has to stop, Jade?"

"Shut up! Just shut up for ten seconds. I know you're not that stupid, you know what I'm talking about. This," Jade gestured between them, "has to stop. Whatever's happening between us has to stop. It has to stop now."

"But Jade, why can't we-"

"We just can't, Cat. We would never work out. We're just too different. Besides, do you know what's going to happen if we do this? People you don't even know are going to hate you. Can you handle that? Can you handle people judging you all the time?"

"We could just hide it from-"

"Don't be stupid. We both know that that's not going to work. There's no way either of us would be able to hide it," Jade was shouting now. She needed to convince Cat that it was wrong. It would be so easy to just let it go if Cat could forget about. "We just can't do it."

"I know," Cat's face crumbled and she dissolved into a pile of tears. Jade made no move to comfort her. "I just really _really _l-"

"Don't say it." She couldn't hear it. She didn't know what would happen if she did, but she knew it wouldn't be something she liked. Hearing Cat say it would make it too real. Jade felt her other hand curl into a fist and she bit down on her lower lip to keep from saying anything else.

"But it's true Jade! You're feeling it too! I know you are. On the beach, I know you were going to kiss me too. Please, just give me a chance."

"Just forget about it, Cat! I didn't feel anything and you should forget you ever felt anything. Just forget about it, for the both of us. Trust me, it's better this way." Jade knew that her voice, quavering and weak, must not have sounded very convincing, but Cat relented and she didn't say another word.

Jade wanted to say more, but each one of Cat's sobs felt like a slap to the face and she just couldn't take it any longer. Jade forced herself to walk away before she did something she regretted. She had to be strong.

It took all of Jade's power not to run. Her legs seemed torn between running away and running back to Cat's front door that she curled up in front of. But Jade forced herself to her car. Somehow, she managed to turn the key in the ignition, put her foot on the gas pedal, and drive.

It shouldn't have been hard.

It shouldn't have been hard to tell Cat to stop something that she hadn't wanted in the first place.

It shouldn't have been hard to get rid of these feelings she hadn't wanted at all.

It shouldn't have been hard to walk away.

But it was.

It really was.

**I know that no amount of apologizing will make up for how incredibly long it took me to finish writing this. I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but I can promise that I will, without a doubt, finish this fic.**

**A huge thanks to all the people the reviewed/favorited/and put it on alert!**


	9. Cat's New Boyfriend

"I can't believe you!"

Jade didn't know how Tori Vega had gotten her address or why she was standing in front of her house, but she did know that she was in no mood to deal with the other girl right now.

"Leave me alone, Vega." Just as Jade was about to shut the door, Tori managed to stick a foot into the house, and she stormed into the West household with a furious expression on her face.

"I'm not leaving until you explain why you rejected Cat." So that's what this was about.

"Because I don't like her and this is probably just another one of Cat's stupid crushes that will go away," Jade replied.

"Oh give me a break. You clearly like her if you're willing to be friends with her, and don't try to pretend you don't know how serious Cat is about you. Even a blind person can tell how much Cat likes you. She's always going on about you and whenever we hang out she wants to invite you. Sometimes I think that the reason she's so spacy all the time is because all she can ever do is think about you." Jade was taken aback by this statement, so much so that she didn't even hear Tori's next words.

"What did you just say?"

"I said, why don't you just give her a chance? She really _really _likes you." Tori was looking at her with an exasperated expression on her face and Jade couldn't think of a satisfactory reply, so she decided to attack the issue from another angle.

"I don't get it. Why are you of all people encouraging_ me_ to date Cat? We don't like each other, remember?"

"You're the one who doesn't like me," Tori corrected her. "Besides, the two of us have nothing to do with the two of you. Look, I didn't believe it when I first found out either, but it's definitely not some crush, Jade. "

_Flashback_

Tori burst out of her acting class excitedly and headed straight for the parking lot to grab something to eat because she was absolutely starving. On her way to the Grub Truck, she noticed Cat standing at the entrance way staring at something in the courtyard.

"Hey Cat! What are you looking at? Is there some famous actor here or something?" Cat didn't appear to notice her, and she continued to stare at something in the distance.

"Cat!" Tori said, prodding her friend in the shoulder.

"Oh, hi Tori!"

"What were you looking at earlier?"

"'What are you talking about?" Cat sputtered loudly, a blush creeping up her face. The corner of Tori's lip curled up in a grin when she recognized the look on her friend's face. "I wasn't looking at anything. Nope. Nothing."

"Nothing? That wasn't a "nothing" look. That was a I'm-totally-crushing-on-someone look! Tell me who it is. No wait, let me guess," Tori said eagerly as she turned around to face the people in the courtyard. Her arms roamed over all the prospective candidates.

"Let's see..." she pondered as Cat continued to protest feebly behind her.

"Tori...it's not what you think..."

"Is it...Mark?...Henry?...Allen?" Tori continued to rattle off names, but Cat shook her head at every one of them. Her breath seemed to hitch as Tori briefly stopped at Beck's table, but she adamantly shook her head when Tori brought up his name. Gotcha!

"Are you sure, Cat? You seemed kind of nervous when you thought I was about to say Beck's name," Tori said.

"I don't like Beck, Tori," Cat mumbled.

"If you say so..." Tori continued to rattle off the names of all the males sitting in the parking lot until she finally ran out of people. "Come on, Cat. You can tell me. I'm your best friend, right? I promise I'll keep it a secret from-" Beck "- whoever it is."

Cat swallowed hard. She finally lifted her face to meet Tori's eyes and Tori could see the light blush that was still evident on Cat's cheeks.

"Well? Who is it Cat?"

"I...it's...the person...Jade!" Cat shouted.

"Jade?!" Tori echoed as she nearly doubled over in shock. Several people who were sitting near them look over in her direction as Tori stared at Cat in dismay. Cat wasn't looking at her, but instead at someone who was standing behind her.

"That's my name. Don't bother using it anymore, Vega." Tori jumped at the sound of a voice behind her and she turned around to see Jade just a foot away from her with an annoyed expression on her face. Typical Jade

"Oh, it's just you."

If Jade was offended by the comment, she didn't show it. Instead, she simply strode past them, sparing Cat a small glance as she left.

"Sheesh, what's her problem?" Tori grumbled, turning back to face Cat. She was too intrigued with Cat's "mystery" crush to concern herself with Jade at the moment. Much to Tori' surprise, Cat was looking wistfully at Jade's retreating figure. Her cheeks had taken on an even darker shade of red and she let out a small, almost imperceptible sigh.

And then, the realization hit Tori with the force of a brick wall.

"Oh. My. God."

"Tori, what are we doing in here?" Cat asked after Tori had dragged her into the empty janitor's closet. Tori didn't respond immediately. She had leaned against the wall to recollect her thoughts as Cat continued to stare at her curiously.

"Cat, you can't seriously like Jade like _that_, can you?" Cat blushed again and she looked down at her feet to confirm Tori's suspicions.

"How can you like Jade, she's...Jade! She's rude, arrogant, doesn't care about anyone but herself-"

"She's not always like that, Tori," Cat interjected loudly. "If you really got to know her, you would see that Jade is kind of like...a taco."

"A taco?"

"Yeah, hard on the outside, but soft and squishy on the inside." Tori couldn't help but chuckle at Cat's analogy, especially when the other girl once again appeared to get lost in her thoughts.

"Soft and squishy?" Tori prompted to bring Cat back into the present. Cat nodded exuberantly. "Cat, I hate to break it to you, but do you know how many times Jade has insulted you? Why would you want to date someone like that?"

"I know Jade makes fun of me sometimes," Cat admitted quietly, "but everybody makes fun of me and when Jade does it, it doesn't hurt as much. And when we're together, just the two of us, Jade is sometimes nice to me. She makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"So _you really do have a heart, Jade."_ Tori thought to herself. It seemed impossible, but any doubts Tori had about Jade were overshadowed by Cat's words. Cat wasn't a liar and if anyone could bring out the good it other people, it was Cat.

"Have you ever thought about telling Jade?"

"No!" Cat said instantly. Her eyes snapped up and Tori could see the fear swimming in them. Was it fear of rejection, or something else? "Tori you can't tell her. If Jade finds out she'll hate me and never want to talk to me again."

"Cat, you can't know that for sure."

"Promise me you won't tell her, Tori."

"Okay okay, I won't tell her Cat," Tori promised before the girl went into a fit of hysterics.

"Pinky Swear?" Cat stuck at her pinky and the look on her face was so serious that Tori would have laughed if the situation at hand wasn't so fragile.

"Pinky Swear."

_End Flashback_

"A taco? Cat called me a taco?" Jade said incredulously once Tori had finished her story.

"That's not the point, Jade. Did you even hear the rest of the story? Cat really cares about you. She wasn't scared that you were going to reject her, she already knew you were going to reject her. She was scared that you would somehow find out that she liked you and that you would hate her for it and never speak to her again, which is exactly what you're doing. It's like her worst nightmare coming true."

Jade could feel something uncomfortable welling up inside her as Tori continued to glare at her. It was a foreign feeling, but instantly Jade knew what it was and she didn't like it at all. Jade West never felt _guilty _about anything.

"Well if Cat knew that I was going to reject her, then why did she even tell me in the first place?"

"Well," It was Tori's turn to look guilty now. "At first, I agreed that it probably wasn't going to happen because you were dating Beck, but then I realized that you broke up with Beck..." Tori trailed off.

"And?"

"So I started to watch you and Cat more closely," Tori continued, "and I started to notice _things_."

"Things?" Jade asked suspiciously, her eyes flickering over to the baseball bat that was lying conveniently against the wall nearby.

"Yeah...things," Tori said ambiguously, hoping that Jade wouldn't pry any further.

"Care to elaborate?" Jade asked.

"Not really," Tori replied uneasily as Jade's murderous eyes continued to shift between her face and the baseball bat. "Okay fine. I started to notice things about how you acted around her. The way you talked her, the way you looked at her, it was...different than how you were with everybody else."

"Different?"

"Different," Tori repeated. "Anyway, I still wasn't sure about you, so I went to ask Beck about what he thought since you two did go out. Don't tell him I told you this, but Beck told me that he thinks the reason you broke up with him is because you were actually in love,er, liked Cat. We talked a little and once it became obvious that you obviously weren't going to do anything, I encouraged Cat to take the first step."

"My decision to break up with Beck had absolutely nothing to do with Cat," Jade said without breaking eye contact. It was the truth after all. Her break up with Beck had been the cause, not the result of her feelings for Beck, and the reason she had broken up with Beck was...

"You!" Jade shouted so loudly that Tori actually jumped back in fear.

"I'm sorry, okay. If I had known you were going to be such a jerk and reject her, then I wouldn't have told her to confess."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Jade snapped.

"Then what are you mad about?"

"Everything! This...all my problems...Cat," Jade let out a frustrated growl and waved her arms in a wild circle, her anger making it difficult to properly articulate her epiphany. "You're the reason this all happened. You're the reason Cat's so miserable and my life is so screwed up right now."

"ME? What did I do? It's not like I asked Cat to fall in love with you..." Jade's heart skipped a beat at the word 'love.' "And it's not like I'm the one who made you like Cat or reject her."

"Don't deny it, Jade," Tori said before Jade could protest. "I know you don't like me, but can you drop the 'I-hate-everybody' act for now? I believe Cat when she says that there's more to you than you pretend to be, and I know you're never going to admit it to me, but you clearly care a lot about Cat. I just don't understand why you won' admit it to her."

Jade had to admit, she was surprised by Tori's statement. Clearly, the girl was absolutely terrified by her, but she was willing to stand up to her for Cat's sake.

"We would never work out, Tori. This isn't some kind of fairytale. This is the real world and in the real world people like us just don't last together. It would be better for both of us if we just let it go." Jade eyes flickered to the picture of her parents sitting on the mantle. The stoic face of her father and the happy glint in her mother's eyes looked back at her.

"How do you know that, when you haven't even tried?"

"Look Tori, it's none of your business. Just do me a favor and get out of my house." Jade had already let this go on for far too long.

"Fine, but can you at least talk to her and let her know that you don't actually hate her? It's the least you could do for breaking her heart," Tori said. The biting tone of her voice sounded almost sympathetic, like she didn't know whether to be mad at Jade or pity her.

For once, Jade couldn't think of a response.

* * *

><p>In the weeks that followed, Jade managed to avoid any more "talks" with Tori who seemed to be quite insistent on making her life a pain.<p>

Avoiding Cat on the other hand was an entirely different matter and just as she had discovered before, it was pretty much impossible. The only difference this time was that the tension between them was so obvious that even Robbie noticed.

"What's up with you two?" he asked one day during lunch when Jade and Cat were both completely silent and avoiding each other's eyes as much as possible (though Jade had definitely caught Cat glancing her way more than a few times).

"Nothing," Jade replied quickly.

"Up? Nothing's up. Actually the sky is up, but it's not up with us," Cat rambled nervously. "The sky looks nice today, doesn't it?"

All the members of their table glanced up at the looming clouds overhead dubiously.

"Cat, isn't there something you wanted to tell everyone?" Tori asked to save her friend from further questioning. Cat's face lit up in excitement.

"Oh yeah! I was going to tell you guys," she stood up and looked at everybody in turn. Jade could feel Cat's eyes lingering on her, but she didn't look up to meet her.

"Well, spit it out Lil' Red," Andre said when Cat seemed to forget that she had something else to say.

"I have a new boyfriend."

At that precise moment, Jade's ability to swallow food seemed to go awry and she promptly began to choke on her food. BOYFRIEND?

"Jade, are you alright?" Tori asked with false concern upon noticing her rather obvious reaction.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be alright?" Jade said. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her face, careful to avoid looking at anybody else at the table.

"No reason," Tori said smugly before turning to Cat. "That's awesome Cat. Who is he? Does he go to this school? Are we going to meet him?"

"His name is-" The sound of the bell ringing cut off whatever Cat was going to say. "Aww... I'll tell you guys about him later."

"Don't bother," Jade grumbled to herself as they all stood up to go to class. She and Tori were the last to leave, but before Tori could go anywhere, Jade grabbed her by the shirt and dragged her to an empty part of the parking lot.

"What was that for?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Vega. You set her up with someone didn't you?"

"I didn't set her up with anybody," Tori said, looking genuinely offended by Jade's accusation. "Not everything that goes wrong in your life is my fault. Cat's always been good at getting guys to like her." It was true, and Jade knew this, but for some reason it still felt wrong to be brushed off so easily and by _Cat_ of all people.

"So much for being in love with me," Jade said more bitterly than she had intended. After all, she didn't care what Cat did with her love life. This is what she had wanted, wasn't it?

"She was in love with you, Jade. I'm sure she still is. You have no idea how hard it was to convince her to even think about dating someone else," Tori slapped a hand over her own mouth in horror the moment the words had escaped her lips and Jade's head whirled around her direction instantly.

"What did you just say?"

"Ah, n-nothing. Forget I said anything."

"_You _convinced her to date someone else!"

"I _suggested _that she might want to think about going out with someone else to get over you_. _What else was I supposed to tell her to do? Did you expect her to just pine away for you for the rest of her life? What do you want from her, Jade? Make up your mind." The fear in Tori's eyes had been replaced with a fierce determination.

In the short time they had known each other, it was the one thing Jade could appreciate about the other girl. She never gave up without a fight.

"Of course I don't expect her to like me for the rest of her life. I just..." Jade didn't know what she had expected. She didn't know what she wanted herself, much less what she expected of others.

"Cat still has feelings for you, Jade. Love doesn't go away as quickly as that, but I don't think even Cat can wait for you forever."

* * *

><p>A few mornings later Jade still found herself conflicted and she didn't like it. She was Jade West, and she was supposed to be confident. She was supposed to know how to handle herself, handle her emotions.<p>

"Morning, sunshine," Beck greeted her sarcastically as she slammed her locker shut in frustration.

"If you're here to tell me what I should do with my life, don't bother." Beck put up his hands in a show of surrender.

"I'll play nice if you do."

"Don't I always?" For the first time in what seemed like eternity, Jade felt the tension seep from her body and she reveled in the feeling of ease that she had one associated with Beck's presence. The content feeling left her quickly though when she heard two people shout and she glanced over to see none other than Tori and some boy looking at each other in surprise.

"Who's that with Tori?" Jade asked curiously. Partly because she admired anybody who caused Tori distress and partly because this boy was hot.

"I don't know. Why don't we just leave them alone?" Beck asked nervously as he noticed the look in Jade's eyes.

"Why don't we go say hi and introduce ourselves?" Jade asked as she walked over to where the two were standing.

"So who's that?" she asked immediately, forgoing introductions in order to satisfy her curiosity. Tori looked uneasy at her arrival, but she quickly introduced the other boy as Danny, a classmate from her previous school, and her old _boyfriend._

"So why'd you dump her?" Jade asked quickly. The uncomfortable look on Tori's face made Jade feel slightly giddy inside. Oh, revenge was sweet.

"Um, actually...Tori broke up with me," Danny explained after sharing a few uncomfortable glances with Tori.

"So, how'd you celebrate?" Jade asked, smiling at Tori's annoyed expression.

"What are you doing here?" Beck asked before Jade could get any further in her tormenting. Just as Danny started explaining that he was dating someone at their school, a high-pitched shriek interrupted him and Jade froze on the spot.

There was only one voice a shriek like that could belong to…

"Daniel!" Cat dashed down the stairs and without even sparing them a glance, jumped in _Daniel's_ arms and kissed him.

Tori's mouth dropped, Beck looked down with a grin plastered on his face, and Jade eyebrow arched in surprise as her lips thinned into one angry line.

"This is the guy I've been telling you about," Cat announced when she and _Daniel_ had broken apart. "My boyfriend."

An unbearable silence descended upon them in an instance. Jade couldn't help but notice that Cat looked happy; happier than Jade had seen her in a long time and with her arm around this new boy no less. Nonetheless, she also noticed the way Cat's eyes had darted in her direction if only for an instant. If Jade didn't know any better, she would have thought that Cat was gauging her reaction.

"How come everyone's being all weird?" Cat asked, her brow furrowed in confusion as if the reason wasn't obvious.

"I'll tell her," Jade volunteered quickly. If she let Tori talk there was no telling what the other girl would say, but she could pin everything on Tori because the other girl was clearly jealous.

"No you won't," Beck said. Jade was about to fire back with a response, but Tori spoke up before either one of them could continue.

Jade was surprised when Tori chose to confess that she and Daniel had dated before. It was even more surprising when Jade noticed that Tori definitely still had lingering feelings for the other boy, and a devious smile made its way onto Jade's face.

If Jade had to suffer through watching Cat and this boy together, then she was dragging Tori along through the misery with her.

* * *

><p>It had been exactly two weeks since Cat had introduced them to Daniel and lunch had taken a turn for the worse. Cat spent most of her time texting on her phone, giggling whenever a text from Daniel came in while Tori and Jade took turns glaring at said phone.<p>

Andre and Robbie remained clueless about the problems between their three female friends because they were both busy with preparations for the upcoming Kickback, an annual Hollywood Arts party. Once every semester the school let them have a party right in the parking lot with live music, food, and a cheese fountain.

Andre was supervising music, while Robbie and Sinjin were dealing with some of the technical aspects which meant that both of them were absent during lunch. As such, Beck was left to act as the mediator, a very unfortunate position.

On one particular day, Tori and Jade were arguing per usual, when none other than Daniel walked up to their table. Jade resisted the urge to throw the entire content of her lunch at his face and instead settled for a fake smile.

"Guess who?" he asked playfully, covering Cat's eyes from behind with his hands. Tori rolled her eyes at his actions; something that did not go unnoticed by Jade.

"Is it Beck?" Cat asked.

"I'm sitting right next to you," Beck said with an amused smile on his face.

"Oh yeah, hey Beck." Cat giggled, feeling Beck's face to confirm his location.

"No, it's me," Daniel said, releasing his hands from Cat's face and sitting down next to her on the bench.

"Daniel!" Cat squealed happily and she instantly latched onto his hands. Tori rolled her eyes once more and Jade felt the smirk on her face grow wider, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of her stomach churning at the sight of Cat and Daniel holding hands.

"Isn't this nice? Daniel gets to have lunch with his new girlfriend and his used girlfriend," Jade said, casting a glance at Tori.

"You can try to make this awkward, but it's not going to work because unlike you, everyone at this table is mature," Tori replied. "And by the way, I was the one who dumped him, so ha!"

'Jealous,' Jade mouthed at Tori.

'So are you,' Tori replied. Daniel and Cat remained oblivious to their silent conversation, too focused on each other.

"So Cat, did you invite Daniel to the Kickback?" Jade asked.

"Oh my god, I forgot." Cat looked surprised, and Jade couldn't tell if she was more surprised that she had forgotten about the dance, or if it was because she was surprised that Jade had addressed her for the first time in weeks.

"What's that?"

Beck quickly explained what the event was because Cat was too busy staring at Jade in surprise to respond. She recovered from her shock quickly and turned back to Daniel, although Jade couldn't help but notice that Cat was definitely still looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Will you come?" Cat asked Daniel who instantly agreed.

"Tori, will you be at the Kickback?" Jade asked.

"Yes, I will be." Tori said, locking eyes with Jade. Before their conversation could go any further, Cat let out an excited "oh!" and she reached down below the table and procured a bag of her homemade brownies.

"Brownies!" She said happily.

"Sorry, Danny doesn't like brownies," Tori said.

"Oh come on, everybody loves brownies," Cat said. To prove her point, she opened the bag, took out one brownie and placed it in Danny's mouth despite his protests. Jade felt her stomach do another flip and she tried to ignore the fact that Cat hadn't even offered her one; something she _always_ did.

"Wow…" Daniel said after chewing for a few seconds. "These are really good."

"What?" Tori said in dismay.

"He said Cat's brownie is really good," Jade repeated gleefully. Tori ignored her, turning her attention back to Daniel and Cat.

"I made you brownies twice, and you said you didn't like brownies."

"Well, Cat's are…different," Daniel replied nervously.

"Different how?"

"Try one," Cat offered. Tori snatched the brownie from Cat's hands and she bit into it furiously.

"How is it?" Beck asked.

"I've got to go," Tori mumbled. She grabbed her bag and left in a huff.

"She didn't say if she liked it or not," Cat said, eyeing her brownies sadly after Tori's departure.

"Of course she liked it. Everything you make tastes amazing Cat," Jade said without a second thought. A moment too late, Jade realized what she had just said and she mentally slapped herself in the face for her slip of the tongue. Cat was staring at her in surprise for the second time that day and Beck was looking at her with a smug grin on his face.

"You know, when you actually manage to bake something without setting your kitchen on fire," Jade added quickly, her voice instantly taking on a much sharper tone. "I have to go to."

Jade stood up quickly, avoiding both Cat and Daniel's eyes and she rushed back into the building.

"You know, just because you're jealous doesn't mean you have to take it out on Tori," Beck said. Jade jumped at the sound of his voice, not realizing that he had followed her back inside.

"She deserves it. She's so pathetic that she can't even hide the fact that she's clearly still into him."

"Just like you can't hide the fact that you're clearly into Cat," Beck said without missing a beat.

"I'm not into Cat."

"Uh huh," Beck said with a look of disbelief on his face. Jade's first instinct was to snap at him for not believing her, until she realized that even she didn't believe herself anymore. "So you weren't jealous at all when Cat fed Danny one of her homemade brownies? You know, the ones she usually makes for us?"

Jade's first instinct was to say no, but the thought was instantly replaced with the image of Cat feeding Daniel a brownie. The memory quickly changed to one of Cat and Daniel holding hands before it morphed into another one, this time of Cat and Daniel kissing. Jade felt her blood run cold and a new thought bubbled to the surface, surging through the dam that she used to block off her unwanted thoughts and burst from her lips.

"I was jealous," she admitted. "I wanted to punch him in the face. Hard."

It was as if someone had shined a light into her mind and cleared up the doubts that had been clouding her thoughts. She had tried to fool herself into thinking that the feelings weren't really there, just a figment of her imagination or the shadow of her old feelings for Beck which had latched onto Cat in the wake of their breakup.

She had known Cat for so long, despised her as long as she had considered her to be her friend. She heard about it all the time, stories of people falling in love with their best friends. She had always dismissed the idea just as quickly as she dismissed the notion of love at first sight. Falling in love with your best friend was just too simple, and relationships weren't supposed to be so easy.

"What did you just say? Did you just admit that you were jealous?" Beck asked. He was staring at Jade as if she had grown a second head.

"You heard me the first time," Jade snapped.

"I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly. Wow, Jade. I think you're finally starting to mature a little."

"Shut up before I make you." Beck only chuckled at her threat. Jade had always hated that about him, the fact that he had never been intimidated by her in the slightest.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just admitted that you like Cat. Don't tell me you're just going to sit around and watch Cat and Danny date without doing something about it."

"Ugh, I completely forgot about _him_. Why did Vega have to go and tell Cat to go find someone else to date?"

"You can't blame Tori for your own stubbornness," Beck said. "We spent weeks trying to tell you to give Cat a shot, but you refused to listen to us."

"Why do you have to take her side for everything?"

"Why do you have to blame her for everything bad that happens to you? Why don't you forget about Tori for a second and focus on your own problems?"

"Cat's already going out with someone else. There's nothing I can do. What am I supposed to do?" Jade couldn't believe that she was asking Beck of all people about relationship advice, but Jade had to admit that she had never been good with relationships. The only reason Beck had never broken up with her for being a horrible girlfriend was because knew her well enough to know that was just how she behaved.

"Why don't you just tell Cat that you like her? She still likes you. She'd probably break up with Danny if she knew you had a chance with you."

"Tell her? Are you insane?"

"That's what a normal, mature person would do if they realized they like someone else," Beck said.

"Are you seriously telling me I should make Cat break up with Daniel so she'll go out with me? Even I'm not that mean," Jade said incredulously. She could be mean, but even she usually didn't like interfering with other people's relationships, unless of course those people deserved it.

"A lot of girls asked me to go out with them when I was still dating you," Beck said. Jade's eyes narrowed and Beck added quickly, "Not that I ever said yes. I just assumed that was something girls did when they liked a guy."

"Are you implying that I'm some kind of desperate airhead who will do anything to get someone hot to date me?"

"You can make fun of all the people you want, but that's not going to get you Cat," Beck said, looking slightly put off by Jade's remark. "If you're not brave enough to tell her, then what are you going to do?"

* * *

><p>Jade arrived at the Kickback fashionably late as always. A rhythmic beat and the sound of laughter permeated the air along. The smell of cooking food and a cheesy aroma filled the atmosphere. Jade took in the surroundings and it wasn't long before her eyes found Cat and Daniel, dancing together in the middle of the parking lot.<p>

Much to her dismay, Cat looked genuinely happy. Daniel spun her in his arms and Cat rubbed noses with him playfully. The jealous part of Jade wanted nothing more than to snatch Cat out of his arms.

Jade averted her eyes and she found that she wasn't the only one who had noticed the happy couple. Tori was watching them too, her lips turned down in a frown. She didn't even notice when Jade approached.

"Daniel ever spin you like that?" Jade asked, wanting nothing more to start an argument to get her mind off of Cat and Daniel.

"Want to get slapped with a sausage?" Tori replied, holding up said sausage in her hand threateningly.

"Sure," Jade said, leaning forward.

"No!" Tori said. When it was clear that Tori wasn't going to say anymore, Jade turned and left.

Her attention instantly turned back to Cat and Daniel. They were standing just inches from each other, their heads pressed close together.

"I don't like that look on your face. What are you thinking?" The sound of Beck's voice broke through her thoughts and Jade turned to see Beck standing just a foot behind her.

"Ugh, just look at them. They look so…cute. It's disgusting," Jade said. Beck opened his mouth to respond, and Jade was certain that he was going to point out her jealously. At the last moment however, he appeared to change his mind, looking at her sympathetically. He grabbed her by the hand.

"Come on. You got to come feel Andre's foot." Of all the things Jade had expected Beck to say, that had definitely not been one of them.

"Why would I want to feel…alright," Jade acquiesced. She allowed herself to be pulled over to where Andre was standing. Indeed, there was a cluster of students huddled around his outstretched, bare foot.

"Hey Jade," Andre greeted. "Want to feel my foot?" Jade shrugged in response, running her free hand over his foot. She was surprised to find that was soft, ridiculously soft, almost like…

Jade glanced at Cat again, imagining the feel of Cat's skin whenever the other girl grabbed her, or hugged her, or fell asleep on her…

"Amazing, right?" Beck said, bringing her attention back to Andre's foot when he noticed her wandering gaze.

"Yeah, that's some soft footage," Jade commented lamely.

"I know, right," Andre said his voice filled with pride.

"How'd you get it to be that soft?"

"Well Robbie came to school one day and his feet were insanely soft, so I asked him about it and it turns out that Trina bought some exotic fish that bite off all the old skin on your feet. I paid her 50 bucks and she let me use em'. You guys should ask her to try them too."

"Exotic fish? That sounds kind of dangerous," Beck said.

"Dangerous? I'm in," Jade said. She looked a Beck, a challenge in her eyes. "What about you? Scared?"

"As if," Beck scoffed.

A piercing shriek ripped through the air and all three of them turned to the source of the noise. The music stopped and everyone's attention had turned to the cheese fountain where Tori was staring at Daniel and Cat in shock, both of them covered in cheese.

"Tori!" Cat cried.

"You got cheese all over us!" Daniel added.

"Why did you do that?"

"I- I don't…" Tori's voice trailed off and she dashed through the crowd back into the school while Cat and Daniel hurried off in the other direction to one of the bathrooms.

Jade rushed after Tori. On one hand she wanted to punch Tori in the face for making Cat miserable, but on the other hand she was pleased that Tori had broken up their intimacy. Beck followed quickly, and Jade was sure that he was coming to make sure she didn't do anything to harm Tori.

Tori was just a few feet ahead of them and Jade saw her duck into the Black Box Theater.

"Wait one sec," Beck said, grabbing Jade by the arm before she could follow Tori inside

"What? You're not taking her side on this are you? You saw what she did to them!"

"I'm not taking her side. I just want to make sure you don't do anything stupid. What are you going to do to her?"

"I'm not going to do anything to her. What kind of a person do you think I am?" Jade said defensively. Beck looked at her doubtfully.

"Okay, fine. I was thinking about doing something to her that might have involved scissors… or poison. Happy?"

"Why don't I take the lead on this one, then?" Beck walked past her before she could disagree and he pushed open the door to the theater.

"Tori! Where are you?" He yelled into the dark room.

"We saw you come in here," Jade said. She flipped on the lights to get a better look at the room and spotted a camping tent set up on stage. At first she thought nothing of it and continued to look around the room while Beck shouted Tori's name. Upon closer examination of the tent however, Jade noticed that it seem to be _occupied._

She grabbed a broom that was resting by the entrance to the theater and threw it into the tent with as much force as she could muster.

"OW!" There was the sound of shuffling and the front flap of the tent opened to reveal Tori inside.

"Leave me alone," she said miserably upon seeing Beck and Jade staring at her.

"What up with the hot cheese attack on Cat?" Beck asked.

"And her boyfriend, Daniel," Jade added.

"I don't know," Tori said, climbing out of the tent. "I've never ever been the jealous type. I've never done anything like that before, but seeing my ex-boyfriend making out with Cat…I guess I just lost it for a second and the next thing I knew my hand was on the cheese fountain."

"Wow, Tori. That was such a mature thing to do," Jade said sarcastically.

"Oh like you wouldn't have done something even worse! Don't deny it Jade, I saw you looking at them too!" Tori accused.

"Well, I'm not the one who actually sprayed hot cheese on them," Jade replied. Jade couldn't deny that she had been planning something unpleasant for Daniel if the night had progressed any further, so she was secretly thankful that Tori had intervened before she had. Tori's shoulders slumped in defeat and her eyes turned down.

"Yeah, I guess I should go apologize," she muttered. Without sparing them another glance, Tori walked passed them and exited the Black Box Theater.

"I'm impressed, Jade. You were actually kind of nice back there," Beck commented.

"Nice? For not killing Tori or for not killing Daniel?"

"Both."

* * *

><p>Jade wandered back into the building alone. Beck had gone back to feel Andre's foot with a promise that he would call her if he could get them an appointment with Trina. Jade had lost all her enthusiasm for the party and she was on her way back to her car so she could leave when the sound of crying reached her ear. It wasn't pleasant, like the sound of most crying but rather a pitiful weeping sound that Jade had only ever known to come from one person.<p>

Just as she suspected, Cat came rounding the corner a few seconds later, her eyes puffy and red. There were still bits of orange in her hair and clothes, but Cat was too bust wiping at her eyes to notice.

"Cat," Jade said, causing the other girl to halt in her tracks and look up at her.

"J-Jade," Cat stuttered in response.

"Cat!" Tori's voice echoed through the empty hallway and Jade could see Tori running up from behind Cat, her eyes wide and apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Cat. I didn't mean to do that. It was accident. Please forgive me. It'll never happen again. I promise."

Cat stared at her, contemplating her words before turning back to Jade.  
>"Can you take me home?" She whispered. Jade was surprised by the request, stopping for a moment to wonder where Daniel had gone and why Cat wasn't leaving with him.<p>

"W-Wait. You can't go yet. We're not done talking yet," Tori said.

"I don't think she wants to listen to you whine anymore," Jade said, stepping in front of Cat to block her from Tori's view. Cat shuffled closer to her and Jade suddenly felt extremely protective of her.

Tori ignored her.

"I'm sorry, Cat. I didn't mean to kiss him!" Jade had been prepared to just ignore Tori and leave with Cat, but upon hearing her last words she whipped around and glared at Tori.

"What did you just say?" Tori swallowed, taking a step back in fear.

"Come on, Jade. Let's just go," Cat said, tugging on her hand. "Please."

Jade stared at Tori once more, but the feeling of Cat's hand in her own was overriding all her other senses and desires, and shot Tori one final glare before following Cat. Tori stared after them regretfully, but she didn't make any attempts to follow.

Cat was eerily quiet throughout the entire walk back to the car. Even after Jade had started up the car and turned up the radio to one of Cat's favorite stations, the other girl remained silent.

"Cat. What did Tori mean back there?" Jade finally asked when she was unable to hold back any longer. " I know she sprayed cheese on you guys, but what she said afterwards… She didn't kiss him too, did she?"

Cat didn't respond immediately. For a moment, Jade wasn't sure if Cat had even heard her, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Cat slowly nod.

"Of course she did. Tori just has to go around sticking her face in everybody else's relationships, doesn't she?" Jade's grip on her steering wheel tightened and she became so focused thoughts of how to get revenge on Tori that she almost missed Cat's next words.

"It doesn't really matter. I didn't really like him that much anyway."

"That doesn't matter. She can't just go around stealing everybody's boyfriends!" Out of her peripheral vision, Jade could see Cat relax a little and she began tracing tiny hearts on the window.

"Boys are stupid," Cat said.

"Yeah, they are. I'm so over guys," Jade replied without thinking. If Jade hadn't been driving she was sure she would have actually slapped herself in the face.

At the sound of Jade's words, Cat had turned. She was no longer staring out the window morosely. She had turned to look at Jade, her lips quivering.

"You know, the only reason I went out with him was because he reminded me of you."

"Are you calling me stupid?" Jade hissed, incredibly thankful for the darkness that hid her expression from Cat.

"No," Cat giggled. Jade kept her eyes focused on the road ahead, but she couldn't stop her lips from curving upward at the sound of Cat's laughter. "He was cute."

"Cute? I'm not cute."

"No, you're pretty and nice and not stupid. Oh, and you're not a boy."

"Doesn't that mean I'm not like Daniel?"

"Oh yeah…it does."

Jade pulled up on the driveway of Cat' s house just a few minutes later, and for a moment the two of them sat in silence. The tension between them had melted a bit, but Jade could still feel the thin layer of frost that seemed to coat the air between them. Cat was fidgeting in her chair, and Jade didn't know what she was supposed to do.

Finally, Cat broke the silence, her voice sounding nervous.

"I'll see you next week at school?"

"Yeah, see you next week," Jade replied, doing her best to keep her voice steady. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the steering wheel instead of Cat, and she didn't realize that Cat had leaned towards her until she felt a pair of lips brush gently against her cheek.

Jade jumped at the contact and she whipped around so fast she nearly strangled herself with her seat belt.

"Thanks, Jade," Cat giggled. She dashed out of the car and skipped up the front steps without so much as a glance back.

Jade sat, frozen in the front seat of her car. Her right hand rose of its own accord, rising to meet her face. She gently touched the spot on her cheek where Cat had kissed her and this time she really did slap herself in the face.

Monday could not come soon enough.

* * *

><p>For the first time in weeks, Jade felt as though life was actually bearable. She and Cat seemed to have reached an understanding of some sort while Beck was treating her normally and the awkwardness that had surrounded them was slowly dissipating.<p>

On top of all that, Tori had finally stopped annoying her because she was too busy trying to contact Cat. When Jade had arrived at the Vega household to get her feet softened by Trina's exotic fish, she had learned that Cat wasn't responding at all to any of Tori's texts or voicemails. All in all, things were looking up for Jade.

Finally, Monday came around and Jade's morning started with an unpleasant turn of events.

Jade had risen, prepared to head to school with an unusually positive attitude when she was forced back into bed by a series of coughs that had her doubled over in pain in an instant.

"Oh, Jade!" Jade didn't even have the energy to dismiss her mother, who had come rushing in at the sound of her daughter's coughing.

"Not you too! Beck's parents just called and said that he's come down with the most awful cough and fever. They're sending him to the hospital today to get checked out. It must have been something you all had at that party. Honestly, I can't believe that your principal keeps letting that crazy teacher of yours serve food!"

"I didn't eat any of Sikowitz's sausages," Jade said. She was overcome with another fit of coughs and she leaned against her bed miserably. This was not how she had planned to spend her Monday morning.

"Then what…Jade!" Her mother shrieked causing Jade to grab her head in pain.

"What?"

"You…You and Beck haven't been _doing _anything have you?"

"Doing anything? We broke up months ago. What kind of a daughter do you think I am?" Jade protested. She didn't quite have the strength to yell back at her mother like she normally would have, so she settled for glaring at her. Her mother looked at her sympathetically.

"Sorry honey, but I was once a teenager too. I know exactly what kids your age are always thinking about."

"We are not having this conversation right now," Jade moaned.

"You're right. We need to get you to the hospital."

* * *

><p>Jade was dropped off at the hospital with the promise that her mother would drop by after work. She was instantly shuttled into a closed off section of the emergency room and she was surprised to find herself accompanied by not only Beck, but also Andre.<p>

"Hey," Beck greeted before he was interrupted by coughing.

"You too, huh?" Andre said.

"Do they know what happened yet?" Jade asked, lying down on a stretcher and curling up as another fit of coughs overtook her.

"Nah," Andre replied.

Talking soon become impossible because one of them would break into a fit of coughing every time they tried to string together a sentence longer than six words. They were soon joined by Robbie and Trina who had both come down with the same illness.

Jade was left to her thoughts, the few that she could concentrate on through the bouts of pain and she found herself idly wondering what Cat was up to at school and whether she had noticed that they were gone.

It appeared that Tori and Cat were the only two who hadn't ended up at the hospital and for a few moments Jade briefly wondered if kissing Daniel was what had prevented the two of them from getting ill. The idea was so ridiculous that Jade burst into a fit of laughter which quickly turned into more coughing. The fact that she had even come up with such a bizarre idea made Jade certain that whatever illness she had gotten was slowly making her go insane, especially after she thought she heard Tori and Cat's voices.

"Oh my god!" Cat's voice was crystal clear and Jade peered up to see that Cat was standing just a few feet away from the foot of her bed with a horrified expression on her face.

"What?" Tori appeared by her side just moments later and Jade was certain that she was starting to hallucinate.

After all, what would Tori and Cat be doing in a hospital in the middle of a school day?

"You all look awful."

"What happened?"

"Ask your sister," Andre replied. Jade looked up again, surprised that someone else had responded. It was only then that she realized that Cat and Tori were actually staring at them and that they weren't just figments of her imagination. Jade felt pathetic under Cat's worried gaze, but at the moment she was too miserable to care.

"Seems they all have _myroleticulitis_, an infectious attack on the central nervous system that can be very dangerous, unless treated immediately," a doctor answered.

"How'd they get it?"

"We have no idea. It's very rare in America. Have any of you recently gone swimming in the Xingu River?" River? It took Jade quite a few moments to process what the doctor had said and the pieces quickly fell into place one after another. River…fish….fish biting her skin….

"Trina…" Beck prompted.

Trina confessed to having gotten her fish illegally from a van off the side of the street. Apparently, the saliva of those particular fish were riddled with toxins and bacteria. The doctor who had been overseeing them reprimanded her for her foolishness and Jade was about ready to throw something in his direction to get him to stop talking.

His warnings were quickly forgotten the instant he felt Trina's foot. Immediately, they all became the center of attention and Jade wanted nothing more than to strangle not only Trina, but also their doctor for forgetting that they were all on the verge of coughing themselves to death.

"Hey." Jade's murderous scheming was interrupted by the sound of Cat's voice. Cat had wandered over to her bedside and was staring at her closely. "You look horrible."

"Thanks for the compliment," Jade replied. Cat giggled at her, but her expression quickly became more sober when Jade started to cough once again.

"The doctors said you would get better, right?" Jade nodded, having lost all desire to open her mouth.

"Will you be back at school soon?" Jade shook her head no.

"Aw, I wanted to hang out with you now that I don't have a boyfriend anymore," Cat said sadly.

Jade couldn't even bring herself to smile at the news. Sure, one of her problems was out of the way, but just because Cat was single didn't instantly solve their problems. They were back at step one, only this time they were armed with the knowledge to take a step into unfamiliar territory and for the first time Jade was certain that she knew exactly where she wanted to go. The only problem was that she had no idea how to get there.

"Friday night," Jade said, unable to take the disappointed look on Cat's face any longer. She had suffered way too long to let uncertainty take control of their relationship once more. Jade West was going to take control of her own life.

"What?" Cat asked. She looked confused, but through the confusion Jade could see a glimmer of hope.

"Friday night," Jade repeated, this time with more confidence. "You. Me. Karaoke."

* * *

><p><strong>My sincerest apologizes to anybody who was been following this story for a long time. It was clearly not my intention to take so long to write another chapter. I do promise that it will definitely be finished soon. There are probably only one or two chapters left. <strong>

**Long story short, I started losing interest in the show after the episodes starting get really really bizarre. I was originally going to do a rewrite of at least Season One, but I realized that the episodes are really hard to write properly. Some of the dialogue and actions just don't flow very well on paper.**

**Anyway, thanks for reviews/favorites/follows as always. They are much appreciated and always a good reminder to any writer if you want them to keep writing.**

**Finally, for anybody who is still interested in this pairing I'm thinking of writing a series of one-shots or short arcs that can be updated sporadically. Any suggestions or requests would be appreciated if you're interested.  
><strong>


	10. Freak the Freak Out (Part 1)

"Ow…Ow…Ow!" Jade's head snapped up at the sound of Cat's third scream. She was lying on the ground with her back against a rock. The redhead was using her hand to pry open her right eye while Andre rifled through a bag of medical supplies by her side.

"You're going to be okay," he said with a thick Jamaican accent.

"You have to take me to a doctor."

"Shh… If that spider bites your eyeball you could die immediately!" Cat inhaled in a series of short, staccato breaths.

"Please get it off my eye."

"Okay…" Andre said as he picked out a pair of pliers. "Don't move, and don't make a sound." The air around them settled into a heavy silence. Andre brought the pliers up slowly, inching near Cat's eye with great caution. Just as they were a few millimeters away from their destination-

RING RING RING

Cat shrieked and shoved Andre away from her as the obnoxious sound of a phone echoed across the classroom walls. Jade jumped in her seat and spun around to look for the idiot who had just let their phone go off in the middle of the scene.

"And the ringing is back!" Sikowitz yelled as he swatted at invisible flies near his face.

"Sikowitz, hey Sikowitz! That was a phone," Robbie explained. The terror on Sikowitz's face dissipated instantly and was replaced with the stern look of a teacher that he so rarely used.

"Whose?"

"Mine," Tori squeaked from the chair in front of him.

"Tori!" Jade smirked as she watched the scene in front of her. Jade still hadn't gotten revenge on Tori for stealing Cat's boyfriend, but every little bit of agony that she had to go through was just karma finally rearing her ugly fangs.

"I swear I had it on vibrate."

"Class is no place for swearing or vibrating." Tori reluctantly placed her phone back in her bag and Jade felt cheated that all Tori had gotten was a little reprimand for violating school rules. She should have had her phone confiscated, or even better, destroyed.

"Maybe we should start the scene over," Andre said. He had not moved from his position on the set's jungle floor.

"Can we?" Cat asked.

"Too late, Cat. By now that spider would have bitten your character's eyeball and you would be dying a spastic, painful death," Sikowitz replied casually. Jade scowled at his flippant proclamation of Cat's demise, but she made no further comment.

Cat's lips drooped downward and she looked at Tori like a wounded puppy.

"Thanks a lot, Tori," she muttered sadly. Though the two had "made up," Jade could still hear the hurt in Cat's voice that had nothing to do with the messed up scene. Cat was never the type to maintain animosity towards her friends, but Jade definitely was.

"Well, we have about four minutes left. Why don't we discuss weekend plans?" Sikowitz piped up, breaking the tension before it could grow any bigger. "Robbie, I assume you have none."

Robbie stuttered for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"Rex, what about you?"

"I'm going to par-tay with a couple o' Northridge girls," Rex said haughtily. Jade's face scrunched up in disgust.

Northridge girls.

If Jade was ever to compile a list of people she hated, it would be a long list, and Northridge girls would be somewhere near the top. They were rich kids with no talent who didn't know how to do anything but shop and prance around like idiots. The girls were particularly notorious for going through boyfriends like they were disposable.

"Guess what Jade and I are doing tonight?" Cat had recovered from her brief disappointment and was now bouncing up and down excitedly on her toes. Jade had to stifle a smile at seeing her look so pleased. It had been a long time since she was the source of that happiness.

"There's this new place in Los Feliz. It's called Karaoke Dokie and they have singing competitions on the weekends, so Jade and I are going to do a song."

"I'm picking a song," Jade asserted quickly before anyone, especially Beck, could comment.

"Jade's picking the song!" Cat repeatedly excitedly. Their eyes met for a brief moment and Jade bit down hard and her lip to stop herself from smiling.

"Can Rex and I come sing too?" Robbie asked.

"Sure," Cat replied quickly. Jade nearly facepalmed at the reply and her eyes quickly narrowed at Cat, who remained oblivious to the look Jade was giving her.

Why on earth had Cat just invited Robbie with them? Did she not realize that this was a…a date?

"Aww… I wish I could go to Karaoke Dokie," Tori lamented.

"Why can't you?" Cat asked.

"Who cares why she can't?" Jade snapped. "What, you think Tori needs to be there so she can bother us? You know, why we don't just invite Beck and Andre too? Heck, why don't we just invite this entire class to go with us?"

"Jade," Sikowitz said loudly, interrupting her before she could continue with her tirade. "Don't be such a gank." Tori grinned and Beck chuckled, but Cat frowned at the comment. She looked like she wanted to respond, but Jade's yelling seemed to have subdued any desire to speak.

"So why can't you come?" Beck finally asked Tori to melt the thin layer of frost that had coated the air around them.

Apparently, Tori had to babysit Trina after she was getting her wisdom teeth removed. Jade was still annoyed at the thought of Robbie intruding on her date that she couldn't even allow herself to relish in the knowledge of Tori's suffering.

The bell rang and Jade walked out of the room without another word to anyone. Her hand clutched tightly around her bag and she opened her locker with haste. It slammed against the locker next to her with a bang that echoed throughout the hallway. The sound was so loud that it muffled the sound of approaching footsteps and Jade didn't realize that Cat had approached her until she felt someone poke her in the arm.

"What?"

"Are you mad at me?" Cat asked quietly.

"No, I'm not mad at you for inviting Robbie to hang out with us when I explicitly just asked you," Jade snapped sarcastically. Cat breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's good. I thought you were mad at me for inviting Robbie. Beck and Andre also asked if they could come just now, so I said yes to them too."

"WHAT?" The entire floor seemed to shake as Jade slammed her locker shut. The few people that were lingering around nearby scattered at the sight of Jade West's rage leaving only Jade and a quivering Cat.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"Cat," Jade moaned. "The reason I asked you to go was because I wanted to do something with you. Just you. You weren't supposed to go and invite a bunch of other people. It was supposed to be a da- uggh nevermind."

Cat blinked once in confusion before the realization struck her. Her face went pale and then almost immediately color seeped back in, before settling into a shade of deep pink.

"OOH," she mouthed in one long pause before her mouth broke into a smile and the next thing Jade knew, Cat had launched herself excitedly into her arms and was jumping up and down while trying to simultaneously hug her.

"Cat, get off. We're in public," Jade said, though she didn't make any move to detach Cat from her body. It had been a long time since anyone, especially Cat, had hugged her with such enthusiasm and though she didn't like to admit it, it felt really really good.

"Jade, this is going to be the best first date ever!"

"Well it's not going to be a date anymore because there are other people going with us," Jade grumbled. She watched as Cat seemed to instantly deflate at her words and she looked down sheepishly.

"Oh," Cat mumbled. "Sorry."

* * *

><p>Karaoke Dokie was a small place, nestled between an antiquated pawn shop and a lively burger joint. Jade had spotted it once on a night out and the flashing lights and advertisements had intrigued her enough to step inside. It looked like a standard bar, but it had been fashioned to appeal to teenage performers, featuring a stage with a walkway that led to the center of the room. Around the middle platform there were small tables scattered with customers and to the side of the room there was a DJ spinning tracks and horrible jokes. The food was good and the atmosphere was just shady enough for Jade to feel comfortable.<p>

"This place is pretty neat," Andre commented as they walked into the building. Robbie had departed with his two Northridge companions, so Andre and Beck had taken the lead while Jade and Cat trailed behind.

"Hmph," Jade replied, taking yet another opportunity to glare at Cat over her shoulder causing the other girl to look away guiltily.

"Jade, what are you doing? You can't scare someone into going on a date with you," Beck whispered.

"It's her fault. Why did she have to go and let all of you come?" Jade hissed back. Cat and Andre were chatting about the music and took no notice. "Why did you even ask to come? You should have known what I was planning to do!"

"Look, Andre asked first and then I decided to come so I could distract him and give you two some time alone," Beck explained.

"Well it's not going so great, is it?" Jade said, gesturing to Andre and Cat who were completely immersed in their own conversation.

"We just got here. Be patient." Jade raised an eyebrow skeptically and Beck sighed. "Nevermind. Just try not to murder Cat before you get a chance to actually go on a date with her."

"Hey guys. Let's grab a table," Andre called. "I'm starving and I want some chow."

The quartet settled down at a table just near the entrance. Andre and Beck seated themselves on one side of the table which left Cat and Jade next to each other. A waiter quickly brought them menus which Andre eagerly picked up and began to flip through. Beck did the same, Cat made no move to reciprocate, drumming her hands on the table. Her eyes flickered between the menu, Andre, and then Jade before settling on her water.

Jade picked up a menu, ignoring the way Cat kept glancing up at her. She skimmed the menu, but her eyes were glazing over the options as she mused about the current situation. So what if she was being a little mean? It was Cat's fault for inviting Andre, Beck, and Robbie on their date.

"Jade," Beck said, bringing her attention to him. His lips were pulled into a casual smile, but Jade could see the urgency in his eyes. "Can I talk to you in private for a sec?"

"In private? Why do you need to speak to me in private?" Jade asked suspiciously.

"Jade," Beck repeated sharply. His eyes narrowed in the slightest, and Jade relented, offering Cat a nod of reassurance before disappearing around the corner of the room with Beck towards the entrance.  
>"What are you doing?" Beck asked immediately once they had moved out of earshot.<p>

"I'm talking to you."

"You know what I mean. What are you doing to Cat? You're practically ignoring her."

"Well what am I supposed to say to her? You and Andre and sitting right there. Do you really expect me to be talking to her while you two are listening to every word we're saying?" Jade snapped.

"So what? We've all hung out before. You never had any problems talking to her before. You never had any problems talking to me around everyone else while we were dating." Beck sighed, running a hand through his hair as he often did when he was frustrated. "Cat's not me, Jade. She's not going to understand you unless you actually open up to her."

"I know she's not you. Otherwise I wouldn't be dating her," Jade replied dryly.

"You won't be dating anyone if you keep this up," Beck grumbled. He opened his mouth to speak again, but his lower lip dropped in mild surprise as his eyes focused something behind Jade.

"What?" Jade asked, turning around to see whatever it was that had caught Beck's attention.

And what she saw made her eyes narrow and lips twist into a frown.

Two boys their age had approached their table. One had short brown hair, and the other blonde. They were both dressed in jeans and sporty leather jackets. The brunette was leaning over the table with his back turned to Jade, apparently engaged in conversation with Cat. His friend was standing to the side, arms folded over his chest with a cocky smile smeared on his face.

"Northridge jocks," Jade muttered distastefully under her breath. With a clenched jaw and one arm on her hip, Jade marched over to the table, Beck at her heels.

"Just ditch the loser and come with us," the brunette was saying. "We'll make sure you have a great time tonight. The owner of this joint –"

"Back off," Jade interrupted, roughly shoving the boy with such force that he had to grasp the table to regain his balance. Cat jumped in her seat as the table rocked in front of her, but her eyes lit up upon recognizing Jade in front of her.

"Hey, what gives?" The boy Jade had just dispatched pushed back from the table to turn around and fully face Jade. The frown on his face immediately curved into a lazy smile.

"Oh, are you a friend of hers? Don't worry, you can enjoy the night with us too," he said, reaching out to lay a hand on her arm.

"Don't touch me," Jade snapped batting away the offending arm. "Didn't you hear me? Neither of us is interested, so just get out of here before I make you." The boy raised an eyebrow in surprise, although Jade couldn't imagine why he was so surprised. There was no way that she was the first with pick up lines that bad.

"You're feisty," he said, mildly amusement dancing in his hazel eyes. He took the opportunity to nudge his friend. "What do you think of that?"

"Sounds like we'd have a good time together," the blonde replied, smirking in response.

"OKAY!" Andre exclaimed loudly, clamoring out of his seat as Jade began to seethe with anger. Cat followed suit, and she placed herself by Jade's side, discretely slipping her hand into Jade. Jade was surprised at the contact, but it appeared that no one else had noticed and she allowed her fingers to relax into Cat's as Andre attempted to start a conversation. "H- Hey, did you know that Karaoke comes to us from the Japanese?"

"Yeah, how great is Japan?" Beck replied half-heartedly.

The two Northridge boys looked unamused, passing over Ander and Beck with uninterested gazes. However, the blonde's eyes widened slightly and his lips curled into a derisive grin as he looked at Andre.

"Hey," he said, nudging his friend and pointing at Andre's jacket. "Check out dude's jacket."

"Hollywood Arts," the brunette replied, eyes glinting in amusement. "The school for wannabes."

"You know, you might want to be shuttin' your face there," Jade replied. Cat's hand was the only thing stopping her from ramming her fist into the boy's face.

"Or what, you and your friends are going to sing on me?"

"At least we have talent unlike you assholes."

"What, you think we can't sing?" The brunette scoffed. "My buddy and I can drop a beat and a smackdown better than you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really," the blonde said enthusiastically.

"Then why don't you prove it," Jade challenged. Behind her, Andre and Beck were nervously chatting away about buffalo nuggets on the menu.

"Sure, why not? Are you going to be singing tonight, Hollywood Arts?"

"We didn't come for the buffalo nuggets," Jade deadpanned.

"I like Japan," Cat piped up suddenly. The sound of her voice broke the thick tension that had settled around Jade. Jade felt Cat give her a squeeze on the hand, and the small gesture of affection made Jade's heart swell with encouragement.

She and Cat were going to kick ass.

* * *

><p>It was exhilarating.<p>

Singing with Cat. Dancing with Cat. Being with Cat.

The final notes of the song faded admist the roar of the crowd. Jade didn't bother to bow, immediately spinning around to face Cat and impulsively wrapping her arms around the other girl, nearly lifting her off her feet in her excitement.

"You were amazing, Jade," Cat breathed happily into her ear.

"We were awesome," Jade corrected.

"We?" Cat asked. The excitement in her voice was muddled with a hint of trepidation. For a brief moment, Jade remembered the anger she had felt just an hour ago at the onset of their date, but whatever doubts she had been lurking in the back of her mind scurried from the forefront of her consciousness.

"We," Jade affirmed, smiling at Cat for the first time that night. They walked off the stage together, sparing one last mocking wave at the two Northridge boys who were now glowering at them from a table by the stage. The two jocks had performed right before them, and they had attempted to sing. However, Jade wasn't even sure if their horrible attempt to carry a tune could even be called singing.

"Damn, you guys were on fire," Andre complimented as they waited for the final verdict.

"Of course," Jade said, prompting a giggle from Cat.

"Yeah yeah, baby. What about that?!" The DJ exclaimed as he walked back on stage. The crowd echoed his enthusiasm and Jade shot another smug look at the two Northridge boys. "That was everybody on the list. So, to announce the winner of tonight's competition here's the owner of the joint, the man who signs my checks: Joey Ferguson!"

A balding man dressed in a black jacket over a hideous flowerly shirt jumped on stage and grabbed the microphone to the sound of applause.

"Thanks everyone! Alotta great singers here tonight, huh?" He paused as more cheering greeted the question. "But I think we had a pair here who really stood out."

Jade and Cat shared and smile, and at the moment Jade wasn't sure what was making her feel happier: That fact that she finally seemed to be getting on the right track with Cat or the fact that they were about to crush two assholes in a singing competition.

"So, tonight's winners are…Henry and Tyler!" The entire room fell, silent save the two Northridge boys who burst into a jumble of fist bumps and high fives.

"Hey! Are you wazzing me?" Rex cried from the opposite of the room as Jade stared at the two boys in shock.

WHAT? How could those two talentless idiots beat her and Cat in a singing competition? It was impossible and wrong.

"Those scrounges can't sing!" Rex continued to protest as the two boys walked on stage to claim the trophy. Jade, Cat, Andre, and Beck all stood up in protest.

"Hey, these two girls got ten times the applause," Beck said.

"Just sit down," Henry replied, smirking down on them from the stage.

"I'll sit you down," Andre retaliated.

"Hey hey," the owner interjected. "I own the club and I decide who wins."

"Thanks dad," Henry said, jostling the man with such force that in nearly threw him off the stage.

"Dad?" Jade exclaimed, her eyebrows arching at the realization. There was a brief moment of silence as the fact sunk in, and then Jade, Andre, and Beck all threw up their hands in a simoultaneous show of exasperation.

"Dad!" Of course. That was the only way they could have possibly won. They rigged the whole competition.

"Why would he call him dad unless - Ah!" Cat exclaimed, always one step behind everyone else. She threw out an arm in surprise and grasped Jade's arm. "I think he's his father!" Jade, still too angry to say anything else simply resorted to placing a hand on Cat's shoulder to calm the girl down. It was strange to see Cat so riled up over something, and Jade found herself admiring the way Cat's face lit up in her passion.

"Fix! Fix!" The crowd erupted into an angry protest.

"Hey!" Henry bellowed, the sound of his voice silencing the crowd. "We won because we're awesome."

"Yeah, don't believe everything your daddy tells you," Cat snapped. Jade's eyebrows arched again, and she was even more surprised that she had been when she first heard that they had been beaten. Cat had never been the vindictive type, and although Jade wasn't normally one to constantly probe other peoples motivations, she was certainly intrigued by Cat's change in behavior.

"Like we he tells you you have talent."

"You know what, you two can just shut it because we're banning you from singing here ever again," Henry said, crossing his arms over his chest as Tyler roughed patted him on the shoulder to edge him on.

"Like we care," Jade said, spinning on her heels and exiting the bar in a huff, the rest of the group following at her heels.

* * *

><p>The warm California night air did nothing to quell Jade's fuming temper and she stormed out of Karaokie Dokie. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Beck pulling Andre away in the direction of his car, which left Cat as the sole victim who she could voice her frustrations onto.<p>

"Uggh, I hate arrogant assholes like that," Jade continued to vent as she moved in the direction of her car.

"They were really stuck up, and they couldn't sing," Cat agreed, wrinkling her nose in a show of distaste.

"I didn't hear you complaining when he was first talking to you," Jade snapped, stopping in her tracks to face Cat. Cat was taken aback by Jade's sudden movement, and she nearly crashed into the taller girl.

"He was being nice," Cat mumbled, eyes shuffling down to match the awkward movement of her feet.

"I don't care if he was being nice. You're dating me! You're not supposed to flirt with other people while we're on a date."

"Well maybe I wouldn't have tried to talk to him if you had actually talked to me!" Cat's voice split the air like a bullet, and Jade was so caught off guard that she took a step backward in surprise. A moment of raging silence erupted between them, and just as quickly it was gone as Cat gasped, hands flying up to her mouth in horror.

"I'm sorry Jade. I didn't mean it. Please don't be mad at me."

Jade's instinct was to retaliate, but for the first time in her life she kept her mouth shut and anger contained. She was still rooted on the spot: mouth agape, thoughts running wild through her mind. Cat had just yelled at her. Cat was genuinely mad at her. Cat didn't get mad at anyone unless there was a good reason to.

Jade wasn't a nice person, and she knew it. Cat had always been the one person who could look past the insults and temper flares. But now it seemed that even Cat was unable to ignore her behavior.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm s-.. I'm the one who should be apologizing." There was an agonizing pause in Jade's response as she stopped to take note of the bitter taste that was resting in her mouth. So this is what guilt felt like. "You're right. I should have paid more attention to you in the beginning instead of acting like a complete asshole/"

"It's okay Jade," Cat began, but Jade cut her off by placing a hand on her shoulder. There was another moment of silence as Jade tried to come up with the right words to say, but her usual repertoire of sarcastic comments was hardly appropriate for the situation at hand.

In fact, it was hardly appropriate for most situations, but Jade had always felt comforted by the sharp blade of her tongue. It was the only tool she knew how to wield, but now Jade knew that she had to take a different approach in order to make this work.

"Come on," Jade said, sliding her hand down Cat's arm and gripping the shorter girl by the fingers.

"Where are we going?" Cat asked, blushing at the contact.

"To dinner. We haven't eaten anything yet. I'm starving," Jade answered, tugging Cat in the direction of her car.

Cat was certainly pleased by the new development, and Jade allowed herself to comfort herself to temporarily comfort herself with the feeling of Cat's hand because they wer about to do something that she dreaded, but it was something that needed to be done. Something that she should have done at the beginning of all this before it had spiraled into such a mess.

They were going to talk.

* * *

><p><strong>One more chapter to go, and I promise this next one will be will up soon. (And by soon, I mean definitely by the end of the year and hopefully by the end of the month).<strong>

**Thank you so much for all the follows/reviews. I'm actually beyond amazed that there are still new readers to this story. Happy New Year to everyone! **


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